The Journey Home
by TMadison
Summary: It has been eighteen months since Betty left for London. Now, she is eagar to return home to start her magazine, be with her family and her best friend, Daniel. She has no idea what complications await her upon her return...as she begins to develop feelings for her best friend now that there aren't thousands of miles seperating them.
1. Chapter 1

**The Journey Home**

**Chapter 1**

_Author's Note: This fic is set a year and half after the finale of the show. I am trying to do something a little different here, so I hope you guys like it. I would appreciate any feedback._

* * *

It never ceased to amaze Betty just how much stuff that one person could accumulate in short span of time. She had only been in London for eighteen months but it looked like she had been living in that tiny flat for ten years or more.

As she packed, she reached for a photo on the shelf before her and pulled it towards her. It was a photo of her and Daniel taken on a trip to Paris, just over a year ago. It was a photo that had been taken shortly before his return to New York to take a job with the New York Mets.

Carefully, she wrapped the photo frame in bubble wrap and placed it with the rest of the photos of her precious memories of London.

"Daniel, you are kind of quiet in there. You aren't going through my lingerie….again?" She called out, with a smirk on her face. "Are you?"

He popped his head out of her bedroom door. "No…uh…why would you think that?"

"Because you are my best friend and I know you," Betty taped up the small box and got up from her place on the floor.

"I was not." He was adamant, as he started towards her. "I'm well aware that your panties are off limits..."

"I'm kidding, Daniel." Betty giggled, as she moved to the bookshelf and began to remove the books, placing them in the box on the floor. She rolled her eyes and felt herself blush.

"Oh….so I can rifle through your panty drawer," said Daniel. He quickly turned around and headed back into the bedroom. "Cause I really like the black lacy ones."

"No…." She popped up and ran after him. "No…No."

As she reached him, he grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her and picking her up off the ground. She let out a playfully squeal, as he proceeded to tickle her. She tried her best to escape.

Of course, she knew that it was hopeless. He was just too strong for her, as he pulled her down onto the couch with him.

"Daniel…." She tried to catch her breath as he continued his attack on her. "Oh…God…stop.." She laughed so hard that she snorted several times. He stopped.

"Did you just snort?" Daniel chuckled.

She began to steady her breathing, as he still had her pinned down on the couch. He just smiled and shook his head.

"You are so adorable," said Daniel affectionately. He quickly pulled her up and into a hug. "Did I tell you how happy I am that you are coming back home?"

"About 100 times…since your mother offered me the job and I accepted," said Betty. She was happy to be going home too. In fact, going home was a bonus to it all. The job was exactly what she wanted and the fact that she got to do it at Meade Publication. It was even better.

She was starting her own magazine that covered the things that she felt were important. She had enjoyed her time at Dunne but it had not been the experience that she had hoped. Mr. Dunne shot down half of her ideas and made things impossible for her.

He finally released hold of her. "Well, I am. It's going to be so great. I got tickets for the game next week and then my mom is throwing you a huge party next weekend. I also got tickets to Wicked for the four of us to see Wicked in three weeks. I know that you never got a chance to actually get to see the whole show….and…"

"Parties…Broadway shows…baseball games…and I am going to have any time for work," Betty cut him off playfully.

"I'm just happy that I don't have to get on a plane to come see you. I know your family feels the same way too," said Daniel. "New York isn't quite the same without Betty Suarez."

"Well, London wasn't the same after you left either," said Betty. Betty couldn't help it. The memories of her and Daniel's time in London was a time that Betty would knew she would always treasure, mostly because it was different than the time they spent in New York. Here they were no longer boss and employee. Having Daniel with her in London was like having a piece of home. After he left, she felt something was missing.

"So…where is Edward?" He said in an overly formal tone. Daniel got up and moved toward the book shelf and began packing some of her books away.

"Why do you have to say it like that? I mean…I thought you liked him," Betty remained seated on the couch.

"I do….He's just…." Daniel shrugged. "Anyway, it doesn't matter what I think about him, as long as he makes you happy."

"He does." Betty said with a hint of hesitancy in her voice that she hoped that Daniel didn't pick up on. It wasn't like she was unhappy with Edward. It was that he didn't like Daniel and they had fought with him about Daniel's overbearing presence in her life. A topic that she was adamant with him was not something that was up for discussion. Daniel was a fixture in her life and whomever she chose to spend her life with would have to accept that.

"Good because if he didn't…."

"He would have to deal with you… I know." Betty looked away from him. "He would also have to deal with my entire family."

"Shouldn't he be helping us pack?" Daniel asked. "It seems like the thing a boyfriend should be doing."

"Who needs him when I have you?" Betty got up and walked over to help Daniel. After all, they still had a lot of packing to do

"He's working, "said Betty. "He's always working."

"Is he excited about moving back to New York? His family lives there right," said Daniel.

"Yeah… I guess. He doesn't really talk about them much," said Betty. In fact, Betty had never heard him talk about his family once in the six months they had been dating.

She didn't want to talk about Edward though. Because honestly, she wasn't sure what was going to happen with that. "He's probably not coming to New York for at least a few weeks, if at all. "Anyway, thank you for coming all this way to help me. I appreciate it." She reaches for his hand and he takes it. "You are the best friend I could ever ask for."

"I feel the same way." Daniel squeezed her hand. "Amanda is thrilled that you are coming back to New York too."

"How are things going with the two of you?" Betty asked cautiously. She knew that thing had been a bit rocky because Amanda had been pushing Daniel to make a commitment.

"We are good. She's helping mom decorate your new apartment," said Daniel.

Betty still couldn't believe that Daniel had gotten involved with Amanda again, especially with their history. Still, it was none of her business and she tried to stay out of it…just like Daniel tried…. (and often failed) to stay out of her romantic entanglements.

She just wanted him to be happy and if Amanda made him happy, than Betty would be happy for him.

"That sounded convincing." Betty watched Daniel carefully as he took his eyes away from her. She knew that something was up and there was something he wasn't telling her. "I don't believe you, Daniel."

"No…she wanted to make sure that your apartment was perfect for your arrival. The apartment is part of your new job….a very special perk I might add and just happens to be right next door to ours," said Daniel.

"I was talking about you and Amanda, Daniel."

"Oh…is everything okay?"

"Yeah…everything is fine. It's just there is something that I need to tell you," said Daniel.

Betty didn't understand. She had never seen Daniel this hesitant about anything. The two of them told each other everything….well, almost everything. What was he not telling her?

"Amanda and I are getting married." He said it quickly, almost like he was ripping off a Band-Aid. As he said those five words, Betty felt an tiny ache in her heart. "It hasn't been announced yet though...or anything."

"Wow! Married…that's wonderful," Betty dropped the books into the box and pulled him into a hug. "I'm so happy for you."

He pulled away, yet still held onto her. "Are you?" His blue eyes looked directly into hers.

"Why wouldn't I be? My best friend just told me that he's getting married," Betty gazed up at him. "Of course, I'm happy"

"Good…because I want you to be my Best Man…or Woman…or whatever," said Daniel.

"Why me? I mean…what about Alexis or Becks?" She shook her head. "Or even DJ?"

"You are my best friend. You have been for over five years," said Daniel. "I need you beside me, Betty….please?"

"Okay. I'll do it." She sighed. "For you."

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_**Author's Note: I know what you are thinking….but please be assured this is a Detty story.** _


	2. Chapter 2

**The Journey Home**

_Author's Note: Thank you for the comments and feedback. I really appreciate it._

**Chapter 2**

* * *

As soon as he and Betty arrived in Manhattan on the Meade jet, Daniel didn't want to waste a second getting Betty, unpacked. In fact, he already had the troops in place, the moment that her things arrived at the high-rise apartment that overlooked Central Park and the place that Betty would now call home.

With the help of her family, they had Betty unpacked within a matter of hours and ready to start her new life in the place that she had called home for a majority of her life.

As he unpacked, Betty had asked him what his hurry was. He just told her that it was because he was afraid that she would change her mind and go back to London.

And while that was partly true, there was more to it.

The painful truth was one that Betty would never know. It was the one that no one knew except for Daniel himself. The truth that he had gone to London to be with her and pursue a romantic relationship with her, a fact that he never quite got to confess to her before Edward entered her life.

At that point, it was too late. He had come to the conclusion that he wanted what he could never had, so he returned to New York and tried to move on. He just had to settle for what he could get from her. The role that he seemed doomed to be stuck in for all eternity.

_The role of her best friend._

Because when it came right down to it, he would rather have that than nothing at all. Even, if he had to sit on the side lines and watch her with Edward. He would deal with it because the only thing that matter to Daniel was that she was happy.

Seeing her happy made him look for that same happiness. That is what led to a relationship with Amanda.

It started out casual enough. Amanda wanted more though. He should have backed away. After all, he didn't want that. In fact, he has no plans to ever marry again….unless it was to one specific woman.

But Amanda kept pushing…and in a drunken haze a month ago, he agreed when she broached the subject again. The next day, he hated himself for agreeing to it because it felt wrong. He had to find a way to tell her that he didn't want to get married.

He did care for Amanda. He even loved her…but not like he loved Betty. His soul mate…the one he could laugh with like none other…the one he could look at and just tell what she was thinking…the one who knew him better than anyone (even his own fiancée).

Two days after their engagement, he was still trying to figure out what to tell Amanda as she was shopping for our own engagement ring at Tiffany's. That was when he got the call from his mother that Betty had accepted the position at Meade and was coming home, bring her boyfriend with her.

It was then that he knew that he needed to get over her…and that while he would always love her; he had to find his own happiness and marry Amanda.

He had even gotten so lost in the wedding delusion that he created that he asked Betty to stand up for him at his wedding….which meant they were going to be spending a lot of time together over the next few weeks, even more than he had planned already.

It thrilled him and terrified him at the same time. The past few days in London with Betty had already proven to awake the feeling that he had tried so hard over the past few weeks to hide away in the back of his heart.

But he couldn't not spend time with her. After all, she was here now. She was in New York and…while it was complicated; there was no way that he would ever push her away.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Betty gazed up at him, as they made their way through the crowd.

"You look great, Betty." Daniel assessed Betty in the Met's t-shirt and jeans. She looks so small beside him, as she held onto his arm and he led her through the crowded stadium towards their seats.

"Thanks…so do you," She smiled brightly. "I thought Amanda was coming with us tonight."

"She hates baseball. I brought her to a game one time…and I won't make that mistake again," said Daniel. "She's out with Marc trying to find a dress."

"I haven't seen her since I got back…I just thought it was weird since I live right next door," said Betty.

"She's consumed with wedding stuff. I barely talk to her either…and anyway, I'm kind of glad that it's just the two of us," said Daniel.

He caught a hint of blush in her cheeks as they settled into their seats.

* * *

Betty didn't like beer much. However, she couldn't help it. She didn't dare back down from a challenge when it came to Daniel. The little game they had between them…daring each other to do crazy things.

She will never forget the time that she dared him to strip down and go swimming him his mother's pool in the middle of December on last visit home.

And he did it.

She promised not to look, but she peaked a little long enough to get the image of his perfect ass burned into her mind for all time.

So here she was in a bar in downtown Manhattan, she was chugging down a beer, slamming a glass down on the bar once she emptied it.

Once she fought back the urge to hurl, she held out her hand and swallowed. "Pay up, Meade."

She burped, wiping her mouth off.

"Such a lady." Daniel chuckled.

She shoved him playfully before returning her hand to the open position, waiting for her reward. "Hey…you are the one that dared me."

"I missed this." Daniel pulled out his wallet and placed a crisp $20 bill in her hand.

She sighed. "Me too. We should do this more often."

"We will." Daniel grinned

"I'm glad to be home….Oh My God, Daniel that apartment is way too much though," Betty raved. The views were spectacular. Justin had proclaimed that he was taking up residence in her guest room and Hilda said that bathroom was bigger than her and Bobby's apartment.

"You deserve it," He reached over for her hand. "I'm so proud of you, Betty."

"Well, I'm very proud of you too," said Betty. "I loved meeting everyone that you work with."

"I get tickets all the time…so we can go. After all, Amanda has no interest and Becks is always out of town," said Daniel.

"Okay." Betty nodded.

"It's a date then," said Daniel. "Anyway, my co-workers loved you….and see that I wasn't exaggerating when I told them how great you were," said Daniel.

"You talk about me?" Betty felt her heart swell a bit.

"Of course…so much they were starting to think I was making you up," said Daniel.

"Well…I'm glad to could help you prove that I do exist." Betty said happily. She didn't know if it was the alcohol or just the fact that she was out with her best friend that made her feel all tingly.

"Anyway, the apartment…It's way too much. You can't tell me that your family puts all the editors at Meade up in an extremely expensive apartment."

Daniel leaned forward. "No…but it was part of the deal, Betty. And I think we have already established that you aren't just any editor."

"Still…I can't imagine staying there by myself," said Betty.

"By yourself?" Daniel turned as the bartender brought Betty her Mango Margarita.

"Yeah." Betty nodded, before she took a sip of her drink.

"What about Edward?" Daniel said quickly. "I thought that he was going to be here this weekend in time for the party."

"No…he's not," said Betty. "He's staying in London."

"Like for a few weeks…."

"For good." She said abruptly.

"Betty…when did you find this out? Everything seemed fine right before we left London," said Daniel.

"The morning after we had dinner with him….I went to his office." Betty took a giant sip of her margarita.

"I remember."

"And I caught him…"

"Caught him what?" Daniel obviously didn't get the message.

"Screwing his secretary," said Betty bluntly. She tried not to cry. She promised herself that she wouldn't cry but she had been holding this in for days now. She hadn't told anyone.

"What…what…why didn't you say anything?" He turned to her, placing his hand on her back.

When he did that, she felt the tears start. She couldn't say anything though, as he grabbed her drink, told the bartender to keep the drinks coming and ushered her to a near-by booth, where they would have some privacy.

Once he allowed her to slide into the booth, he joined her and immediately wrapped her in his arms.

"I can't believe I trusted him," Betty finally said, as she lowered her head to rest between his head and chest. His arms didn't pull away, even as the bartender brought more drinks and placed them on the table. "Daniel, I thought that he loved me."

"Obviously not. He doesn't deserve you," He whispered. "What I don't understand is why you didn't tell me? Betty, you know you can tell me anything."

"I know you would gone down there."

"He hurt you. Of course, I would. No one hurts you and gets away with it," said Daniel.

"That's why I didn't tell you. I figure that…" She broke down into tears. This time, she was sobbing against his chest. She couldn't believe that she had been so stupid to believe that she was in a normal relationship that could possibly lead to something. "I'm sorry…"

"Just cry…I've got you," said Daniel, as he pulled his arm's tighter around her. "Let it out."

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	3. Chapter 3

**The Journey Home**

_Author's Note: Thanks for the comments and feedback. I really appreciate it. _

* * *

**Chapter 3**

With Betty in his arms, he carried her off the elevator. She had cried herself to sleep in the cab….or passed out from all those shots. He wasn't sure which. All he knew was that halfway through their ride, her head ended up in his lap.

He made his way down the hallway toward her apartment. He realizes that he was never going to be able to get to her keys, which were probably in the bottom of her purse and hold onto her. The last thing he wanted to do was wake her up.

Daniel then turned around and headed back towards his and Amanda's apartment on the other end of the hallway. He needed help here to get Betty into her apartment and getting her to bed.

Just as he got to the end of the hallway, his front door opened and Amanda stood there., dressed for a night on the town.

"Oh…you're home." She seemed shocked to see him. "I thought that you wouldn't be back….for a while."

"Yeah…can you help me?"

"Daniel, I told you about bring strays home," said Amanda jokingly.

"Ha. Ha. You know its Betty," Daniel rolled her eyes. "Can you get her keys out of her purse and open her door for me?"

"Oh…well, I'm kind of running late," said Amanda.

"Amanda, just do it. My arms are getting tired from carrying her and I don't want to drop her," said Daniel. "And end up having to take her to the hospital because she hit her head or something."

"Gee…touchy" Amanda reached into Betty's purse and began to rifle through looking for keys. "Well, let's see…we have gum…oh…$20…a condom…At least, we know she's been having safe sex over there in good ol' London….a photo of you and Betty…"

Amanda held the photo of him and Betty in her hand that had been taken just after he came to London when she took the job with Dunne Publications.

"Amanda, KEYS!" Daniel snapped.. She tossed the photo back in.

"Oh…here they are." She pulled out the keys and walked quickly down the hall. Daniel followed with Betty still firmly in his arms. A few seconds later, Amanda opened the door and flung open the door. "Here you go."

"Thank you..." He said graciously. Daniel carried Betty through the open door.

"I thought you were going to a baseball game." Amanda asked.

"Uh…we did. We had a few drinks afterward." Daniel laid Betty down on the couch.

"Looks like Betty had one too many…that's not like her," said Amanda.

"It's a long story," said Daniel. It was also one that Daniel didn't want to tell. Betty had confided in him about the end of her relationship with Edward and the last thing he wanted to do was betray her, until she was ready to tell others.

"Okay." Amanda turned to leave.

"Where are you going? I was hoping you could help me." He pointed to Betty who was now passed out on the couch, which was snoring.

"I have to go. I'm meeting Marc. There is this new club opening and Marc said he might be able to find some clients for me there. I'm already running late," said Amanda, as she quickly gave him a kiss on the cheek and then rushed out the door. "Don't wait up!"

With the slam of the door, the only thing was left was the sound of Betty snoring. Now, he just had to get her undressed and into bed.

X

Betty woke up with the sounds of rain and the clap of thunder, making her shot up out of bed. That was her first mistake. Her head was pounding and the room was spinning.

In the darkness, she could see that it was almost 3:00 am. She got up to go to the bathroom slowly easing herself upward. She got up and began the small trek around her massive king size bed. As she rounded the corner, she hit something and tumbled onto the floor

"Ouch!" Two voices ran out at the same time.

Betty realized that the something was actually a someone.

A man…Daniel to be had been sleeping on the floor at the foot of her bed and now she was on top of him.

"Daniel." She groaned as she tried to keep her head from throbbing. "What are you doing here? It's 3:00 in the morning."

"I was sleeping."

"No…I…" She couldn't get the room to stop spinning, as Daniel sat up, despite still being held down by the weight of her body.

As much as she wanted to, she knew that jumping up would only make matters worse. "Are you okay?" His hands brushed against her arm tenderly. There was something sobering about his touch.

"Uh…" Betty felt him hardening against her. She felt her heart begin to race, as she willed herself to get the hell off Daniel. "Yeah…I just have to go to the bathroom. My stomach…I don't feel so good."

Betty quickly removed herself from him, despite her dizziness. She realized that she had nothing on but her underwear and the Mets t-shirt that she had worn to the game. She rushed off to the bathroom and closed the door.

Once inside, she immediately turned on the sink and splashed her face with water. She needed to clear her head.

"It was just a natural response. This is Daniel. Everyone knows that Daniel's….has a mind of its own." She whispered to herself, as she closed her eyes tight. "He marrying Amanda….and he's your best friend."

She tried to clear her impure thoughts of Daniel from her mind. The images of him of him…..stop it!

She heard a knock. "Betty, let me in."

"Just a minute." She turned on the water and splashed her face with cold water again, hoping it would sober her up and get her brain to work again.

Once she dried her face, she opened the door and saw Daniel leaning against the door frame in nothing but a pair of boxers.

"Better?" He said with concern.

She nodded. Suddenly, she felt an overwhelming sense of awareness at Daniel's clothing status. She had seen Daniel in less…why this response now?

Betty moved past him and back towards the bed. "You don't have to stay. I'm sure that Amanda is waiting for you to get home."

"She's staying at Marc's tonight. She sent me a text about two hours ago."

"Oh…still, you don't have to stay with me." Betty sat on the edge of the bed, covering her legs with the comforter.

"I want to stay. I'm worried about you." Daniel came to be seated beside her on the bed.

"I'll be fine." She didn't look at him.

"You were crying." Daniel covered her hand that rested on the bed, with his larger hand.

"What?" She turned towards him.

"In your sleep…you were crying and telling me to stay with you," said Daniel.

"Was I?" She looked at him shyly.

"Yes."

* * *

Betty sat on one side of the couch. He sat on the other. It was almost 4:30 in the morning and they were watching Beauty and the Beast, with Betty's eyes focused straight ahead.

He just looked at her. He was pretty sure that she had seen this movie a thousand times. She just seemed entranced at the singing dinner ware that was dancing on the television screen.

Finally, she tore her eyes away from the screen. "So…what do I have to do?"

"What do you mean?"

She shifted herself to face him, rearranging her blanket. "You asked me to be your best man at the wedding. What am I supposed to do?"

"Not much. Just stand there and hold the ring…."

"And plan the bachelor party?" Betty's eyes traveled up from his lap up his chest, and then quickly away.

"I don't really…I don't think that's necessary. Becks keeps telling me that he wants to throw me an awesome bachelor party but I don't really want one," said Daniel.

"I'm surprised to hear that," said Betty. "I know that Amanda is probably gonna have every male stripper in the city at her bachelorette party, if she had anything to do with it."

"Amanda is going to do what Amanda's going to do," said Daniel. "It's like tonight…she's at Marc... Other nights, she's working late in her studio."

He continued. "That wild life isn't my style anymore. Sure…I like to go out and have a good time but I come home every night."

"You are here with me tonight." Betty smiled.

"Yes…but you needed me," said Daniel. "How many times have you brought me home drunk and made sure that I didn't choke on my own vomit?"

She wrinkled her nose. "I guess you are right. But Daniel, are you sure that you want to marry Amanda ….you know what, it's not my business."

"Betty…" He wanted to tell her. He wanted to tell her that this is not what he wanted. This was not the way that this should be, especially now that she was free.

"I'm sorry that I asked," said Betty.

"No…you have every right to ask. Friends make sure that friends don't make mistakes sometimes. I know that you mean well," Daniel reached across the couch and took her hand. "And I love you for it."

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	4. Chapter 4

**The Journey Home**

_Author's Note: Thank you for the feedback and comments. I appreicate them very much._

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Daniel slipped on his coat and took a look in the mirror. He had to admit that he looked pretty damn good, dressed in his black Dolce& Gabanna suit that he knew that Betty loved on him.

As he finished getting ready, he couldn't stop thinking about Betty. It seemed that her closeness had only amplified his feeling and he knew that was a bad thing. While he knew that the heart couldn't help what the heart wants…and his heart wanted Betty.

When he was with her, he fell in love with her all over again. Even the slight awkwardness between them when he stayed at her apartment a few nights ago, had quickly melted away and had quickly returned them to their usual ….flirtatious and playful…behavior.

He knew that soon he was going to have to find a way to let Amanda down gently. He just had to find the right time. The only problem was that she never seemed to stay in one spot long enough for him to get to actually have a conversation with him.

While she was out, he was home…which equaled him wandering down the hall to Betty's, where they would order take out and find something on television.

There were risks though. He could let go of Amanda…and also face rejection from Betty. He knew that Betty could often be cautious…but he also knew the Betty that wasn't afraid of a challenge. He just hoped that when the time came she would be able to willing to take a risk on him.

He just didn't want Amanda to get hurt though and until he could find a way to tell Amanda (hopefully…before the wedding plans when too much further). He was had to be very careful not to do anything that might do that.

Tonight was not the tonight to think about that though. Tonight was going to be all about Betty. This was the night that her family, friends, Meade employees and members of the media would official welcome Betty back to New York.

And no expense had been spared. It made her MODE farewell party look like a child's birthday party.

The Grand Ballroom at The Plaza…over 500 in attendance…live band…with dancing….exquisite foods including some of Betty's favorites and even one specific thing that he knew that Betty didn't like.

Daniel made sure that escargot was on the menu. He wondered if Betty remembered that night. He knew he wouldn't because that night on the bridge he saw for the first time how special Betty Suarez was.

She deserved this night because Daniel and his mother were so proud of her and everything she had accomplished and her future with Meade.

"Daniel…." Amanda stood in their closet.

"Yeah." He straightened his tie, glancing in the mirror.

"I have to ask you a question," said Amanda.

"Okay." He said plainly. He prayed that it wasn't about the wedding.

"How you thought about what I should call myself after we are married?" Amanda asked, as she continued to stare into her closet to figure out what to wear.

"I don't care. You can call yourself whatever you want." Daniel was tired of hearing about what she wanted her name to be.

_Amanda Meade. Amanda Tanen-Sommers-Meade. Amadna Sommers- Meade. Amanda Tanen-Meade._

"Keep the name you have. No one ever said you had to take my name." He added, in fact, he wished she didn't. He felt a surge of courage. Perhaps, he should just get it over with. Here and now. "Actually, there is something…

Amanda cut in. "I just think it would be better for my career as a stylist, if I use the name Meade and Sommers,"

"What career? You have one client…and that's your father." Daniel takes his eyes away unable to look at her standing there in next to nothing. His attempt to tell her…an utter failure. Perhaps wasn't the right night anyway.

"Oh…you would be so wrong about that," said Amanda, as she took a mini dress off the hanger. "I ran into Becks last night at that new club and he introduced me to some people…and I have a meeting in an hour."

"You do realize that we are leaving for Betty's party in ten minutes," said Daniel. "You are her friend."

"If anyone will understand, it's Betty. If it weren't for her, I never would have been inspired to work towards my dream of being a stylist," said Amanda. "I'll just make a quick appearance at her party and then slip out the back door. I'll be back before anyone knows that I'm missing."

"Amanda, please. Do this for Betty."

"Daniel, this is really important to me. I could use a little support." Amanda snapped.

"Well, Betty is important to me and to you too." He couldn't believe that she would make plans when she knew that Betty's party was tonight.

"Relax. The bar is just a few blocks from The Plaza." Amanda slips into her dress.

He knew there was no use in fighting it. In fact, it was probably for the best. He would get more time to spend with Betty. He would even get to escort her into her own party.

"Okay… How about you just go to your meeting? I'll explain to Betty." He nodded.

"Thank you…Thank you so much," said Amanda. "I promise that I'll be at the party as soon as I'm done."

"Okay."

Amanda rushed over to him and kissed him. "Someone is getting lucky tonight…." She purred, before rushing off to finish getting ready.

* * *

Betty was running late. The town car was going to be here in ten minutes to take her to dinner in her honor.. She still had to get dressed too.

She pulled her off the shoulder navy dress out of the closet. She knew that it was the only choice for tonight because she knew that Daniel loved this dress on her.

In only her bra and panties, she reached for her B necklace as she noticed it was close to slipping behind the dresser. However, the moment she touched it, the strand quickly pulled out of her reach and fell behind the dresser.

"Great!" Betty got down on her hands and knees and peered behind the heavy wood piece of furniture. She wondered if she would be able to reach it. She didn't think so but she had to try.

She put her hand in the small space. She could feel it…just a little…little…further. She pushed herself further.

The doorbell rang.

"Uh….I'll be right there." She tried one more time, just another tiny bit. She could feel the end. She pushed her shoulder inward just a bit.

The doorbell rang again.

"Coming!" She pulled and realized that her shoulder was wedged. "Uh…..What else is going to happen to me tonight?"

The doorbell rang again…and again.

"HOLD ON!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, as she tried to wiggle her way out.

A few seconds later, she managed to wiggle free. She still remained on the floor though, as she tried to figure out how she was going to get her necklace.

"Oh…Wow!" A male voice said.

Betty turned around. Daniel stood there with his mouth wide open, staring at her.

"Daniel!" She reached for something anything but the only thing she had was a hand towel…and that didn't cover much. "Get out!"

He turned his back. "Betty, I'm so sorry. I thought you said come in."

"How did you get in here?" Betty got up from her place on the floor and reached for her dress.

"You gave me a key, Betty."

"Oh…" She remembered that she did that, just in case she locked herself out.

"What were you doing on your hands and knees?" He began to turn around again.

"Daniel…turn around."

"Come on, Betty. There is no need to be embarrassed. We are adults. I've seen enough to know….nevermind." He cleared his throat and abruptly stopped his statement. "Anyway, the car will be here in a few minutes." She quickly stepped into her form-fitting dress and zipped it up.

"Okay, you can turn around now."

He turned around and she took his breath away. "Betty, you look beautiful."

"Thank you….now I just need to get my necklace. It fell behind the dresser and I was trying to get it when you decided to start ogling my butt," Betty gave him a playful smile.

"I was not."

"Oh…you were," said Betty. "You know, I don' think Amanda would appreciate that."

"Yeah…about that…" Daniel felt his face flood with warmth.

"I'll forgive you, if you help me get my necklace," said Betty. "I have to have it. You know it's my lucky necklace."

A few minutes later, Daniel managed to retrieve her necklace for her, while she finished her make up. When he presented it to her, she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Wow…you got lucky." She giggled.

"What? Oh…yeah, the necklace."

"Will you put it on me?" She asked sweetly, biting her lip just a bit.

"I'd be honored," said Daniel. She turned around and moved her long dark hair to the side, as he slid the strand of pearls around her gorgeous neck. As he fastened the clasp, his fingertips gently brushed her soft skin.

This small touch was almost enough to make him, whip her around and kiss her like he had wanted to for so long. He couldn't though. He would not cheapen his relationship with her, any more than he already had.

There was one thing he knew and that was that he had to end things with Amanda before something happened with Betty. Betty was not going to be the other woman.

She was going to be the only woman.

* * *

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	5. Chapter 5

**The Journey Home**

_Author's Note: Thank you for the feedback and comments. I can't tell you how much they mean to me._

**Chapter 5**

* * *

Daniel gazed out the window at the sights that streamed by, as the town car raced to their destination. They were running late…but that was fine. There was plenty of time and the night was young.

He turned to lookat her. Betty looked so gorgeous in that navy dress.

It just amazed him more each day. how much she had grown since he met her? Would he have ever guessed that the bright eyed, eager assistant that his father hired would be the woman he couldn't breathe without?

It was enough for him to wish that he could back in time and tell himself that awkward assistant was going to be the best thing that ever happened to him….and not to waste his time with any of other meaningless flings.

All that wasted time. How different things could be if he had known then what he knew now?

"So…where's Amanda?" Betty asked, glanced over at him. Her hands sitting perfectly folded in her lap. Daniel wished she would reach across the seat, so he could hold her hand.

It was the simple things that Daniel ached for; the simple things he knew that he could get from Betty and the things that were missing from his relationship with Amanda.

_Amanda._

Why did he have to complicate things? He should have been truthful with Betty a long time ago, despite her relationship with Edward. Maybe, if Daniel had been man enough to tell her, Betty would now be the one with the 3 carat diamond on her left hand.

"I have a feeling she won't be joining us this evening." Daniel said honestly. He knew what Amanda had said about meeting them at the party but he knew better. She would have an excuse. She always did. He just didn't know why he just took it.

"Oh…ok." She said hesitantly.

"What?"

"Nothing…" Betty bit her lip. "Oh…I forgot to tell you that Becks called me today."

"Why?" Daniel couldn't imagine why Becks would call someone that he barely knew. He and Betty had met once or twice…briefly.

"Yeah! He wanted to talk to me about the bachelor party. It seems he wants to move the party up to next Friday."

"We haven't even set a date yet," Daniel protested because he knew that was not going to happen.

"I think he was drunk or something because he asked me if I would be the entertainment," said Betty. "He said that I should give you a lap dance before you tie the knot."

"He didn't…." Daniel groaned, as he recalled a drunken conversation that he and Becks had…and he had talked about Betty's assets. "Just ignore him. There is going to be no bachelor party."

_Or wedding…for that matter. _

"I was going to tell him that but he laughed and hung up on me," said Betty. "Is he like 12 years old or something?"

"That's pushing it."

"I'm starting to think that there are no grown men out there anymore. They just think that women are their play things," said Betty. "I even heard from Edward this morning."

She added. "He actually sent me roses…and called me to apologize. He asked if he could still come see me."

"What did you tell him?" Daniel hoped she told him where to go. Otherwise, he would.

"I sent the flowers back and I told him to go jump in a lake." Betty giggled. "And then I hung up on him before he could say anything else."

"That's my girl." Daniel beamed.

"Daniel, you were so right about him." She moved a bit closer, turning towards him. "I should have listened to you. I know you didn't…"

"It's true. I didn't like him but no one is every good enough for you in my eyes," said Daniel sincerely. "I just want you to be happy. That's all I ever want…"

As he felt the car come to a stop, he had to restrain himself. The urge to kiss her was getting stronger and stronger. It would take much effort either, just a swift move forward.

Betty's eyes locked with his. "I want you to be happy too."

"It looks like we're here." He said reluctantly. He quickly jumped out and hurried around. He knew that he would never forget the awestruck expression on Betty's face as he helped her out of the limo. Her eyes danced with curiosity and wonder, as he guided her towards the Grand Ballroom, where her party was already in full swing.

She giggled and he gave her a raise an eyebrow, wondering what she was laughing at.

"What's so funny?"

"You are." Betty shook her head, smiled and rolled her eyes. "You must have a really bad sense of direction, Daniel. Or maybe we should get you some glasses."

"Why do you say that?" He gave her a playful smirk.

"Daniel…this isn't Madison Six."

"No, it's not." Daniel grinned, as he realized that the feeling of Betty on his arm was the most amazing feeling he had ever felt. "You are so smart. I love a woman with a brain."

She playfully slapped his arm and laughed. "Why are we here? I thought we were supposed to be meet everyone at Madison Six…fifteen minutes ago."

"Well…my dear, you do have the fifteen minutes ago part right, you just have the location wrong," said Daniel.

"What's going on?" She stopped for a moment.

"We are here for your party," said Daniel. He tugged her along and made their way towards the Grand Ballroom.

Once they walked through the doors, he wished that he could have bottled up the sparkles in her eyes and kept them forever.

_Forever._

* * *

There were no words to describe this night, except that it was beyond anything that she could have ever imagined. What she had though was supposed to be a simple party was more like a gala.

It was unbelievable. The food was delicious. The band was amazing. The ballroom made her feel like she had been dropped into the middle of a fairytale.

The only thing missing was a Prince Charming.

Of course, she did have Daniel, who was doing his best to fill the role for the evening. Since Amanda was a no-show, he spent a majority of the evening pushing her around the floor. In fact, he spent so much time with her that her own father had to practically pry him away from her, so that he would have the chance to dance with her.

Now, she had finally gotten to dance with her dad, Bobby, Marc and finally….Justin. As she danced with her nephew, Betty's eyes traveled across the room. There she found Daniel locked into a conversation that she could tell he didn't want to be in.

Yet, he still kept looking over at her as often as he could. Every time, he did she felt her stomach flutter just a bit. It thrilled her and also made her feel a twinge of shame.

She couldn't help it though. She was fighting a losing battle in regards to her developing feelings for Daniel. He was just too charming. He made her laugh….oh, how he made her laugh.

She sighed as focused back to her dance partner, who had an amused look on his face.

"You two need to stop." Justin rolled his eyes.

"Stop what?" She pulled her eyes back towards Daniel.

"The flirting."

"I'm not flirting…and Daniel's engaged." She knew this. She had reminded herself about 100 times since they had left her apartment and he guided her into the elevator, gently touching the back.

_A touch that nearly set her on fire._

"Someone needs to remind you both of that," said Justin. "Marc said that Amanda is considering moving up the wedding."

"Oh…but Daniel said that they hadn't picked a date yet."

"They haven't but I think Amanda wants to get married next month," said Justin. "Something about getting it over with before Fashion Week."

"Next month?" Betty squeaked. "I just don't see how that's even possible."

"Don't shot the messenger, Aunt Betty."

Betty felt a gentle tap of her shoulder. "May I cut in?" She heard a familiar voice ask.

As she turned she was stunned to see, Edward stood there, handsome as ever.

"No…" Betty snapped and turned to her nephew. "Excuse me, Justin." She turned on her heel and headed off the dance floor.

"Wait…" Edward caught her by the arm at the edge of the dance floor. "Listen…"

She whirled around. "You are out of your mind if you think I'm going to listen to you." She glanced around and realized that this was not the place to raise her voice.

"Betty, I'm sorry about what happen. She didn't mean anything to me. I love you."

"Save your breath." She took off towards the nearest exit. She needed some air. As she hurried away as fast as her feet would take her, she hit the door and kept going.

How dare he ruin this night? Everything had been so perfect until he had to ruin it.

Once outside, she stopped and found a quiet place to catch her breath. After a few minutes, she figured that Edward had stopped following her. The last thing she wanted was to see him. She felt the tears start about the time she wasted with that arrogant man, who obviously didn't love her.

"Betty…there you are." She lifted her head to see Daniel standing before her. He seemed panicked when he saw the tears in her eyes. "Justin told me that you and Edward…"

"You didn't tell them about me and Edward." She said quickly.

"No. I did," said Daniel.

"Daniel, why do I pick such losers?" Betty sighed. "I can never get things right when it comes to love. I'm going to die old and alone."

"Well, I don't think that's going to happen." He moved closer. "I can actually pretty much guarantee it." The wind blew as they waited in the dark. "I think that those guys are just stupid. They don't see what an amazing woman you are."

"You don't have to say that." She shivered.

"It's the truth." Daniel said softly. "Are you cold?"

"A little." She nodded.

Daniel swiftly removed his jacket and reached around her and placed it on her shoulders. "There you go."

He was so close right now. Betty knew she couldn't even look at him because her eyes would tell him exactly what she was thinking. She couldn't let him know that she was falling for him. Every bit of her was trying to keep herself from reaching up and pulling his lips to hers and completely and utterly devouring him right there in that alleyway.

Finally, she managed to calm her rapidly beating heart and looked up at him. "Thank you. Tonight was great. It was way too much though."

"You deserve it," said Daniel.

"I guess we should get back in there," said Betty, as she tried to dry her tears. "Does it look like I've been crying?"

"You look beautiful," said Daniel.

"You are so lying," Betty said with a little laugh. Why did just those simple words make her feel so much better?

"I'm not…and you know it." Daniel offered his arm and she took it as they made their way back. "I have an idea that I know is going to cheer you up."

"I'm listening," said Betty.

"Oh…no. It's a surprise," said Daniel. "Let's go back inside, say our good-byes, grab a bottle of champagne and then…."

"And then what?"

Daniel chuckled. "You'll see."

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	6. Chapter 6

**The Journey Home**

_Author's Note: Thank you for the comments and feedback. I really do appreciate it. You guys are great._

* * *

**Chapter 6**

"You know we are going to get busted." Betty giggled, as she handed the empty bottle over to Daniel. "I'm expecting the cops to show up any second and take us to jail for open container."

"There is no one else I would rather do time with." Daniel chuckled, as he tried to get the last little bit out of the bottle with no luck. He placed it at his feet to discard later with the other empty bottle. "Maybe, we could share a cell."

"I don't think they would keep us together." Betty bumped him from the side. "Speaking of doing time, have you heard from the ball and chain?"

Betty couldn't believe she actually referred to Amanda like that. She could blame it on the alcohol or the fact that Amanda didn't seem to realize what she had.

They both stared out over the water onto the city in their spot on the bridge. The place they finally came back to, after all this time.

"Amanda? No…I haven't," said Daniel. "She was supposed to show up at the party and…"

"And she didn't and there is something serious wrong with that, Daniel." Betty blurted out before she could stop herself. "She should have been there with you. You are her fiancé and you are such an amazing and wonderful man. I just don't know why she isn't stuck to you like glue. I know I…."

Betty stopped herself before she said too much and then continued. "God, Daniel. I'm sorry."

He continued to stare straight ahead, silent.

"Daniel, I…."

"You are right, Betty. I've got to call it off."

"What? I thought you said that…"

"I know what I said and the more I think about it, the more I think I made a mistake. I should have never agreed to marry Amanda," said Daniel. "As horrible as it sounds, she is not the one that I want."

Betty reached over and touched his arm. Daniel's eyes looked down at her fingers and then he lifted his eyes to meet hers. "What is it? Why do you think that you made a mistake?"

He turned his eyes once again to the Manhattan skyline and took a deep breath. "I don't know. Don't get me wrong. I do care about Amanda but….I don't think it's the kind of love that is going to last forever. I feel like there is something missing."

"You need to tell her….but wait, Justin told me that Marc said that Amanda wanted to push up the wedding." Betty said curiously.

"I have no idea where he got that idea but it wasn't from me…and I doubt that it was from Amanda," said Daniel. "The first week we were engaged. She was super excited. With each week, it seemed that she lost interest. Suddenly, she wanted to focus on her career about what the Meade name was going to do for her career."

He added. "You should have heard her rattle off all the names options to me earlier tonight. I really felt like she wanted to marry me for my name and not for me."

"Oh…Daniel." Betty stepped closer. "You deserve so much more than that.

"You have to call it off, Daniel….like right now." Betty said swiftly. "You can't let this go any further."

She pulled him by his jacket, not caring if she wrinkled it; the two champagne bottles toppled over and rolled across the ground. "Betty, I have no idea where she is. She is impossible to catch up with."

"Don't worry about that," said Betty. "We'll find her."

* * *

If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes and also had Betty there to confirm it, he wouldn't have believed. The image was melted into his mind of Amanda and Becks tangled up in a corner booth of that bar where she had to go to for "her meeting". With their hands all over each other and their tongues down each other's throat, not even caring if the whole world watched them making out.

He even stood there for a minute and he actually felt nothing but relief. He was free…well, almost free. His relationship with Amanda was over, for sure now.

And he would soon be free to pursue the woman he truly loved and who was standing beside him and helping him through this.

After a minute though, he grabbed Betty and bolted from the bar before Amanda or Becks knew that they had been there.

"Daniel…" Betty said loudly as they reached the sidewalk. She turned quickly towards him. "Why did you leave? That was your chance. We have to go back in there."

"I know I just didn't want to do it in public. Anyway, at least I know now that she obviously doesn't want to marry me, Betty. Otherwise, she wouldn't be making out with Becks."

"So…you aren't even mad at Becks for stealing her," said Betty.

"No…" Daniel took inhaled deeply. He felt like he had a new lease on life. "I'm not. He can have her. In fact, they might actually be perfect for each other. I want her to be happy."

"Well, she looked happy." Betty said hesitantly, rolling her eyes. "Any happier and I think they would have cleared the table and slid into home right there."

"I'll say."

"Are you okay though? I know you don't want to get married and all," said Betty. "But seeing the woman you were supposed to marry is currently playing tonsil hockey with one of your closet friends. That's pretty major."

She added. "You don't have to hide it, Daniel. You can tell me how you really feel about it. Don't sugarcoat it for my sake."

"Betty, I think that I'm going to be okay." Daniel reached for her hand and entwined their fingers. He knew that everything was going to be already because he had Betty beside him. "I'm already on the road to recovery."

"You need to talk to her," said Betty.

"And I will but tonight, I don't want to think about it." Daniel said plainly "Remember, this is your night. What would you like to do?"

"Actually, I'm kind of tired…and a little drunk. I was wondering if you could take me home." Betty seemed to hold tighten her grip, as if she were doing everything she could to hold him together.

"Sure…It's probably a good idea to keep things sane. If we stay out and drink anymore, we might end up with matching tattoos and getting arrested for bathing naked in the one of the fountains in Central Park," said Daniel playfully.

"That sounds promising." Betty pulled him down the sidewalk. "We can save that for another day."

* * *

By the time, they reached the door of her apartment. Betty felt like she was about to spontaneously combust. She never claimed to be an expert on body language. However, she couldn't help by notice how tense it was between the two of them.

And it wasn't the bad kind of tension either.

She had to wonder if he was able to read her mind.

God! Help her, if he could see the dirty thoughts going on. The ways she wanted him and the ways she wanted him to touch her.

Did he want her? She couldn't be sure. Their tangled incident in the dark from the other night and the way he was eyeing her earlier tonight told her that he just might and it was killing her.

She quickly reminded herself that allowing anything to happen…even just out of fun was a bad idea.

While Daniel was already ready to call off his relationship with Amanda that did not give her the excuse to jump him. And she wanted to so badly…and it was so wrong.

If he wanted her too, would it be on the rebound? Would he regret it? Or could she just have a one night to quench her thirst for her gorgeous best friend? Would it ruin everything?"

Why was this happening to her?

She didn't know why. Perhaps, it had to do with the reminder of her failed relationship with Edward and how Daniel was 100 times the man that Edward had been. Perhaps, it was because Daniel never failed to be there when she needed him. Perhaps, it was because she loved him and knew that he deserved to be with someone that loved him for more than just his name or his riches.

Could she be that for him? Would he want that with her?

What a fool Amanda must be to not know that the greatest treasure that Daniel had wasn't sitting in his bank account? It was in his heart. His heart was the most precious thing about him.

Now, as he led her to her door. He opened it for her, using his key.

It might as well have been the key to her heart because she couldn't stop it from racing.

"Well, its guess… this is good night, Betty."

"You aren't leaving, are you?" Betty hoped not.

"I thought you were tired."

"I am a little…do you want to come in and check under my bed for monsters?" Betty smiled flirtatiously. "Maybe, read me a bedtime story."

"What's your favorite bedtime story?" Daniel asked, playing along with her little request.

"Cinderella….but tonight, I'm thinking more along the lines of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf."

"Interesting choice! Do I have to do the voices?"

Betty giggled, as she reached for his hand and led him inside. He willingly followed her locking the door behind them as they went.

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	7. Chapter 7

**The Journey Home**

_Author's Note: Just a bit of warning. There is a bit of violence in this chapter…so if you have a problem with it, you should avoid it._

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Betty allowed the icy cold water to rush over her naked body, as she willed herself to not think about Daniel sitting out there in the living room waiting for her.

Thinking about him was only going to make her predicament worse.

As soon as they walked into her apartment and closed the door, the heat between them seemed to multiple dramatically. There was no doubt what was going to happen between them.

His closeness and his wolfish expression told her what he was thinking and it thrilled her to her core that he would want that with her. It also terrified her too.

That was why she excused herself and rushed into her bathroom and took a cold shower. She needed something to distract her because as much as she wanted Daniel and as much as she had encouraged him with her flirtatious behavior.

It would be wrong for so many reasons to allow anything to happen between them right now.

For one thing, he was her best friend. For another, she was also her friend's fiancée. And they were still engaged until it was called off.

Now, if he had broken off the engagement in the bar, there may be a different outcome. Betty might have allowed herself to consider the possibility of letting herself go and taking a brave step forward.

But he didn't and thing were still the same.

And he wasn't free until he broke up with Amanda. After all, there was always the possibility that he just had cold feet. That happens right?

Then, where would she be?

Alone…and standing beside the man she loved at his wedding to another woman. This could get messy and there was way too much at stake.

Betty turned off the shower and stepped out. Slowly, she got ready to go back into the living room where Daniel was waiting for her. She selected the most modest nightwear she had.

A purple silk nightgown

Suddenly, she wished for her flannel pajamas with the kittens on it. Of course, she was no longer that girl anymore. Still, she felt like going back there was the only way to escape what going to happen between her and Daniel. It would be only way to save them from making a huge mistake.

Perhaps, she should just tell him to go home because right now, the cold shower had done nothing to help dial back the heat. It just kept coming on….and she couldn't stop it.

She and Daniel were on a collision course.

After pulling on a matching robe, Betty emerged from her bedroom to find Daniel, sitting back on the couch comfortably, until he jumped when he saw her standing there in the doorway.

"Wow! You …wow!" He looked her up and down. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Did you want me to stick around? I kind wanted to read you that bedtime story."

"I'm sure." Betty couldn't help but be charmed by how shy Daniel suddenly seemed to be. She could just imagine that she would never think of Little Red Riding Hood the same again.

"You said you were still hungry," said Daniel. "I ordered a pizza from that place you love a few blocks away. It should be here in about 30 minutes."

"All that food at the party and I barely got to eat any of it," said Betty.

"I figured that we could hang out for a while and watch a movie."

"Yeah…." Betty figured that watching a movie would be safe enough. They made it through the every second of Beauty and The Beast without anything happening. "Sounds good."

"I was wondering if I could use your shower. I ran and got some things from my apartment," said Daniel. "I would have changed there but I didn't really want to deal with Amanda, if she came home."

"You know you can't hide out here forever." Betty approached him slowly.

"I know." He picked up the small bag and moved towards her.

"Go ahead." She gestured towards her bedroom. He stopped as he passed her and kissed her on the forehead sweetly.

"Thank you. I'll be right out. Why don't you find something for us to watch?"

She bit her lip and nodded. He stood there for a moment and just stared at her. "Okay."

* * *

Daniel turned on the shower and then proceeded to undress. It suddenly occurred to him that Betty had been naked in her only a few minutes earlier- a thought that was not doing anything for his state of arousal. A cold shower was just what he needed.

In the morning, Daniel would go home and take care of this situation with Amanda. He wasn't even sure that he was going to bring up the fact that he knew about her and Becks. After all, that was only the secondary reason why he couldn't go through the wedding.

He stepped into the shower and let the shower try to wash away that situation and cool down the one with Betty because as much as he wanted to be with her. He was determined that once he got out of his relationship with Amanda. He would pursue Betty the right way.

He would ask her out. He would send her flowers….and all that kind of stuff that you do when you are courting someone. Because she meant that much to him and he wanted to do something right for the first time in his life. Even his relationship with Molly had been done the wrong way; it only made him more determined that things with Betty were going to be different.

And he got the feeling, especially after tonight that Betty was going to be open to this. Her behavior towards him had been flirtatious to say the least. He had a feeling that she didn't just want a bed time story from him.

This thrilled him. Just the possibility of it and soon he would be free to pursue the woman that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. The woman who should be wearing his ring and the one woman he trusted and loved. The woman that knew his secrets and still wanted to be in the same room with him.

Daniel found himself consumed by what the future could hold for them….in time. The truth was they had wasted enough time in relationship that were now obviously doomed from the start.

Edward didn't deserve her. After his little display tonight, it was obvious that Daniel's feeling about him had been correct. He tried Betty like a possession. Even after what he had done to her, he still came all the way to London to "fix" things. Daniel was more than pleased when he saw that Betty wouldn't listen to anything he had to say.

As he reached forward to turn the shower off, he heard a scream and a crash come from the living room. It caused his heart to stop.

"NO!" Betty yelled out. "Get away from me! " He heard another louder crash. The sounds that followed were something that Daniel couldn't make out.

Daniel jumped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. He quickly wrapped it around his waist in a rush. His body couldn't move fast enough as he rushed through Betty's bedroom, still wet from the shower.

When he made it into the living room, Daniel knew that nothing could have prepared him for what he would find once he got there.

Across the room on the couch, Edward was on top of Betty, pinning her down. One hand over her mouth and one hand pulling up her purple nightgown.

Daniel moved forward swiftly and quietly. He reached for a vase and moved quickly, smashing it over Edward's head. His body fell onto Betty, knocking him out.

Her terrified eyes flew open and saw Daniel standing there. He moved forward to push Edward off of her.

"Daniel…" Tears streamed down Betty's cheeks uncontrollably. He reached down and scooped her up into his arms. He felt the need to get her as far away from that monster as possible, to protect her at all costs.

He brought her into the dining room, placing her down in a chair. He could feel her trembling, as he knelt before her. "Are you okay?"

Stupid question…of course, she wasn't okay. She was just attacked. His eyes traced over her arms and legs, assessing her. If there was even a scratch, he was going back in there and killing him with his own hands.

"Daniel…" She reached for him and he pulled her into his arm as tight as he possibly could. "Don't let go of me."

He felt her tears drip down his chest and trailing over his heart. "I won't."

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	8. Chapter 8

**The Journey Home**

_Author's Note: Thank you for the feedback and comments. I appreciate it._

* * *

**Chapter 8**

The sun was already peeking through Betty's window and she had yet to get a bit of sleep. After the events of the night before, she didn't think that it was possible.

She had been here laying on her bed for over an hour, listening to the sounds of broken glass being swept up and furniture being put up right. Daniel didn't want her to have to deal with it and had quickly ushered her past the living room and into the bedroom, telling her to call him if she needed anything.

It was bad enough that Betty couldn't get it out of her mind- the way Edward forced himself through the door when she opened it, the way she tried to push him away from her, the insistence in his voice that they were going to make this work, the way he held her down…and wouldn't let her get away. His grip was too strong. The bruises on her arms were an indication of that.

With the sound of another dust pan full of glass going into the garbage, Betty felt tears forming in the corner of her eyes, as she wished that she had taken Daniel up on going to a hotel after they had returned from the police station and the hospital.

Betty clutched onto a pillow, just like she had clung to Daniel after it happened. In his arms, she felt safe. She was so grateful that Daniel had been there. It horrified her to think what would have happened if he hadn't.

In fact, he never left her side from the moment he scooped her up off the couch and carried her away from Edward, who was unconscious on the floor of her living room. Daniel was so calm and gentle. Perhaps, it was because he knew that she was terrified and getting upset would only make things worse.

Daniel was the only reason that she even agreed to go to the hospital. Beyond some scratches and bruises, she wasn't hurt physically. She only went because she knew that Daniel needed to know that she was okay. She even let him stay with her while they examined her.

She heard her door open and she rolled towards the sound. She saw Daniel standing there quietly. Betty quickly sat up.

"I hope I didn't wake you." He moved into the room.

"I can't sleep anyway." She leaned against the headboard of the huge bed.

"Do you need me to get you anything?" He seemed cautious as he proceeded forward.

"No." Betty shook her head. "You should probably go home. Amanda will be home soon; if she isn't already and I know you need to talk to her and….you have already done so much for me." She could see that he too was affected by what he had witnessed late last night and she knew why.

"Betty…" He stepped forward. "I can't just leave you. Not now…"

"I'm fine. You heard the doctor. Edward didn't hurt me, except for a few bruises, scratches…and I'm…"

"Physically, he didn't…but emotionally, I don't feel right leaving you alone," said Daniel. Betty felt her tears threaten to give her away. She turned her eyes downward.

"Daniel, Edward is locked up….for now. He's not coming back here."

He moved over to the edge of the bed. She continued to look down at the Harvard t-shirt that he had given her to sleep in, despite having a drawer full of nightgowns. Her purple nightgown and robe were in a brown paper bag somewhere.

He sat down. His hand was on the bed, beside hers. He didn't move to touch her though. She wanted him too.

"I'm going to make him pay for this, Betty." He said sharply. "I'm going to make sure of it.

"It's over. I'm going to be okay." She reached for his hand and entwined her smaller fingers with his larger ones. She squeezed.

"Of course, you will be…but still…"

"You are my hero. You saved me, Daniel. I can't thank you enough for that."

"You don't have to thank me. I'll always protect you, Betty."

"It's my fault. I should have seen this a long time ago. He always did have a tenacity to fly off the handle when he didn't get his way. I should have…"

"This is not your fault."

She nodded her head. She knew this wasn't her fault. "I know. I just meant that I should have broken up with him a long time ago and this would not have happened. There was always something that was missing in the relationship. I never could quite figure it out until I came back home…but now I think I know."

"What was that?" He asked curiously.

Betty didn't know if she could just come right out and say it. Things were complicated enough right now.

"Look at me, Betty."

Betty couldn't look at him though. She knew he would see her tears and she knew now that it what it would do to him. She had seen it in his eyes after he took her in his arms after her attack. In that moment, she knew the reason for everything.

She knew why he couldn't marry Amanda. She knew why he wanted to spend all his time with her. She knew that he loved her, just as much as she loved him.

Come on, I want to those beautiful brown eyes that I love so much," said Daniel.

She lifted her eyes and a tear slid down her cheek. His hand moved up and his thumb captured the runaway tear and she tried to smile.

"Much better." His hand brushed her cheek, causing her heart beat to speed up. Betty couldn't help herself, as she lunged forward toward him. He brought his arms around her and once again, she felt safe.

She pulled back just a bit and looked in his eyes. She moved forward and softly kissed him on the lips.

A simple kiss.

* * *

It was almost noon when Daniel walked into his apartment. He had spent the morning with Betty, working to get her to sleep after the long night they had. As much as they fought it, sleep finally overcame them as they laid there in each other's arms.

When he slipped out of bed about 20 minutes ago, it was reluctantly. He wanted to stay there with Betty but there were things to be deal with.

His plan was to go back to apartment, talk with Amanda, call off the engagement, pack his bags and stay in Betty's guest room until Amanda moved out.

As he made his way toward the living room, he heard Amanda on the phone. When he rounded the corner, he saw wedding books, sketches and samples everywhere.

Amanda looked up at him as he came into the room and promptly hung up. "There you are. I was wondering when you were going to drag yourself in. "

"Yeah. It's been a busy night." He figured there wasn't much point in lying.

"I heard that Betty's boyfriend showed up last night and the police had to be called. I heard that you were kind of her hero," said Amanda. "Is she okay?"

"Oh…yeah. I mean, as good as she can be," said Daniel. "I actually have to go back and stay with her."

"What happened?" Amanda asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," said Daniel. "And please don't ask Betty about it either. It will just bring it all back."

"Okay…"

"What's going on here?" Daniel asked.

"It's our wedding planning," said Amanda. "I've been dragging my feet on it but this morning, I just made the decision that I needed to get off my butt and get this wedding planned. I'm tired of being engaged."

She added, as she moved towards him. "I just want to be married.

"Amanda, we need…"

"I know what you are going to say," said Amanda. "You were starting to think that I was having cold feet."

"Now that you mention it…"

"Well, I was." She said honestly. "I'm really sorry that I didn't show up for Betty's party last night but I had a lot of thinking to do. I realized that I don't want that party life anymore." She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body against him. "I thought that I wanted this big career but I'm starting to see that isn't going to work because there is something way more important."

"And that is." Daniel swallowed hard.

"You are. You are the most important thing to me," said Amanda. "I love you and I want to get married in two weeks."

"Two weeks? Amanda….no," said Daniel. He pulled away.

"Come on, Daniel." Amanda followed him. "The wedding announcement will be in the paper tomorrow. It's already done."

"You did that without consulting me," said Daniel. "You better call them and stop this. We can't get married in two weeks. Call it off…."

"Daniel, I'm pregnant." Amanda blurted out.

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	9. Chapter 9

**The Journey Home**

_Author's Note: Thank you for the feedback and the comments. You know I love them and appreciate them. I will be honest…I went back and forth with this chapter….so I hope you like it._

* * *

**Chapter 9**

"Pregnant?" Daniel felt the blood drain from his face and the room started to spin around. He tried to get a grip on himself, as he grabbed onto a nearby table. "How can you be pregnant?"

He continued and his tone turned more adamant. "You told me that you were on the pill. Plus, I always….and I mean, always used a condom."

Daniel never actually thought about the specific reason why he felt it was necessary to uses two methods of birth control. Perhaps, it was because he didn't want to have children with Amanda and also another way of telling himself that he didn't want to marry her either. If there was anyone that he wanted to marry and have babies with, it was Betty.

Of course, he knew he was probably getting ahead of himself. Amanda was obviously fooling around behind his back. It might not even be his.

"So…you aren't happy about this." Amanda's happy face fell into a frown.

"Amanda…." He didn't know what to say or even where to start. Daniel knew that he needed to choose his words carefully.

Even though, he knew of her affair…or what seemed to be an affair, he didn't want to hurt her, especially when there was a baby involved. "It's….great. It's just unexpected."

He didn't even have the heart to tell her that he had seen her with tongue down Becks' throat last night. He needed to gather his thoughts before he did anything rash.

He needed time to think. He knew he didn't have that luxury though.

She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him enthusiastically. "Thank goodness. I'm so glad that you aren't upset."

"It's a baby. A baby is supposed to be a good thing." Supposed to be…being the key word here. Right now, it was hard to see that.

"Our baby." Amanda beamed and turned back to her wedding planning and sat down on the couch.

Daniel just watched her for a minute. He was looking for some kind of hesitance….or a guilty conscious or something.

_Anything._

"I can't get married in two weeks, Amanda." He just came out with it.

"Of course, you can." Amanda said.

"No…I can't." Daniel knew that he should make an excuse. _A business trip? A last minute trip around the world? _

Excuses were not going to change what the facts were. The truth was that even though Amanda might be pregnant with his baby. Marrying Amanda would not change the fact that he loved Betty and getting married to Amanda would just make things worse.

If and when he found out whether he was the father of that baby, he would deal with it. And if he was the father, he would accept the responsibility and he and Amanda would find a way to work out an arrangement.

He knew he was jumping the gun though. He and Amanda hadn't had sex in weeks. He had been out of town on business for a week…and then he had spent a week in London helping Betty pack up her flat.

"I can't marry you, Amanda." Daniel managed to utter those words that he knew were going to hurt, as Amanda continued to look down at her notebook. "I know about you and Becks."

"Becks?" She lifted her head.

"I know you two have something going. I saw you with my own eyes last night in the bar. Betty was there too."

"Daniel, I can explain…." She got up again and moved towards him.

"There is no need to explain anything. We aren't getting married." He said calmly. "So…you and Becks can go on and do whatever you were doing."

"You cheated on me first." Amanda said sharply.

"Excuse me. I did not."

"With Betty…"

"Betty and I are not sleeping together, Amanda."

"Maybe you weren't physically unfaithful…but emotionally, you were. It's so obvious you are in love with Betty."

Daniel said adamantly. "There is nothing going on between Betty and I."

"There has been something going on with the two of you since before she left for London. Don't even try to deny it? If you could have sex through Skype, you probably would have done it already."

She continued. "The way that the two of you joke around together, it's like you have your own language. You also would drop anything for her. I tried to tell myself that she didn't matter because she wasn't in New York but now that she's back here. I know I can't compete with that."

"Amanda…"

He knew that Amanda was right. He had been emotionally unfaithful to Amanda…who he was supposed to be committed to. Of course, he should have never got into the relationship with her because he had been in love with Betty since before she left for London.

"Daniel, you don't need to lie to me. I know you too well for that." Amanda said in a calmer tone. "I'm the fool here. I thought that I could get you to forget her."

"I never meant to hurt you." Daniel approached her. I do care about you, Amanda. The truth is though. You don't want to be married to me, any more than I want to be married to you."

"What about…" Amanda couldn't look at him.

"The baby." He said cautiously. "Amanda, I will never walk away from my child. If it is….my child."

He added. "Is there a chance that it's not mine?"

"A good chance….but not 100%. Becks and I hooked while you were out of town about a month ago and well…it's been happening ever since."

"Does Becks know about the baby?"

"No. He doesn't."

"You should tell him. He deserve to know," said Daniel.

"I know. I will tell him before he leave for Africa for that photo shoot," said Amanda.

"Thank you for telling me the truth. And we will figure this out." Daniel assured her. "I promise.

"I'll call everything off." Amanda nodded her head. "I just need you to do me a favor."

"Okay."

"Don't let Betty get away. The two of you belong together and I'm sorry that I ever got in the way of that," said Amanda sincerely.

* * *

"Daniel!" Betty woke up out of dead sleep, shooting into an upward position in the huge bed. Flashing memories of Edward and the events of last night haunted her dreams. Only this time, Edward had been the one to hurt Daniel.

The nightmare had Daniel laying on the floor unconscious with blood dripping down his face- a sight that caused her to wake up in a panic.

As she tried to calm her breathing, the bedroom door opened. Daniel rushed in with a bag in hand, which he promptly dropped onto the floor beside the door.

"Sweetie…." He rushed to her bedside and swiftly took her in his arms. "I'm here."

"I thought he hurt you." She felt the tears begin to fall harder.

"I'm fine." He said as he squeezed her body closer to his. "And I'm not going to let him come near you again."

He continued. "I'm sorry. I should never have left you. I was gone longer than I wanted to be gone."

She lifted her wet eyes to his. "Where did you go?"

"To talk to Amanda."

"And…"

"It's over." He looked directly into her eyes.

"How did she take it?" Betty had to ask. She knew that the conversation couldn't have been an easy one.

"Things didn't turn out exactly the way I thought it would. There may be a slight complication but it's nothing that we can't handle," said Daniel. "The important thing is that I'm not getting married and I'm no longer engaged."

"So what are you going to do now?" Betty asked. She realized that Daniel was still holding on to her tight, almost as if he never wanted to let her go. She hoped that he wouldn't.

"I'm going to do what I should have been brave enough to do a long time ago." He leaned in and kissed her. It was warm and sweet and Betty felt a rush come over her, as she allowed herself to deepen the kiss. His hands wandered over the curves of her upper body.

Despite her earlier trauma, she knew that she could never be anything but safe as long as she was in his arms.

He pulled away and broke the kiss. "Betty…I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking…we can't"

"Don't sorry, Daniel."

"I just don't want to push you," said Daniel. "I don't want you to do anything that you don't want to do."

"But…that's just it, Daniel."

"That's just what?"

"I want you. I love you…and I think that you love me too," said Betty boldly.

"I do love you." Daniel smiled.

Betty moved forward and gently gave him a soft kiss and whispered against his lips. "So…I think we need to stop fighting this. Don't you think?"

"Yes." He said softly, as she pulled him down with her, as she crashed against the pillows on the bed.

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	10. Chapter 10

**The Journey Home**

_Author's Note: Thank you so much for your reviews and feedback. I appreciate it very much. _

**Chapter 10**

* * *

As a writer, it wasn't often that Betty found herself at a loss for words, when it came to describing the way she was feeling. After all, Betty knew what it was like to be in love and she knew one thing; it never felt like this.

With Daniel, things were different. They were better. They were sweeter. It was like all the events of the years they had known each other had prepared them for this journey.

For the past two days, Betty had woken up in Daniel's arms, praying that she didn't wake up from this blissful time.

_The endless pillow talk. The heated make-out session. The passionate love-making. _

For two nights and one day, they never left her apartment, answer their phones or watch any television. It was just the two of them. In that time, they both put the rest of the world on hold, as they tried desperately to make up for all the time they had wasted; both dreading Monday morning when Betty would start her new job at Meade and Daniel had to go back to work.

Before they knew it though, Monday was upon them and they found themselves still unable to pull away from each other as the rush of reality was headed right for them.

With some reluctance, Betty tried to move from the bed. She had a meeting at 8:00 sharp to meet her new staff. It would look really bad for the boss to be late on her first day.

"I think you should stay here." Daniel pulled her back against him. This sound of his voice had already significantly lowered her defenses.

"I want too." That was the truth but Betty knew she couldn't and neither could he. "I do."

"Can't we just run away together?" Daniel said as he pulled her hair away and began attacking her neck with more kisses.

"Mmmm." She could revel in that thought for about two seconds. "Very tempting offer but you know I can't. It's my first day and it would look bad for me not to be there."

Daniel rolled her towards him, pulling her sparely clothed body closer to his. "Don't make me pull out my 50% stake in Meade and show it to you."

"That sounded really dirty." Betty giggled and she reached up for a kiss. He quickly moved to please her, deepening the kiss with no signs of letting her get out of bed.

Finally, she was able to break away from the kiss. She knew that she could easily get lost in the moment.

She whispered. "I have to go."

He leaned his forehead against hers and sighed. "I know. I just wish we didn't have to go back to the real world. I wish we could stay here forever. Just the two of us."

"You could walk me into my first day." Betty said affectionately.

"Sweetie, there isn't anything that I wish that I could do more….well; there are a few things I would like to do…more." He grinned adorningly. "You're right. We need to go to work."

"Maybe we could have lunch…"

Daniel moved to get out of bed, but she kept him from moving very far. "Actually, I have an important lunch meeting but how about I pick you up after work and we will have dinner…before we come home?"

"Home…" Betty smiled. She liked the sound of that. She liked the fact that she and Daniel would come home to each other.

Daniel chuckled. "Well…unless you just want to skip the dinner part and come right home but honestly, I would like to take you out."

"Okay."

"I know this little place out of the way…and no paparazzi will find us there. How does that sound?"

"Perfect."

* * *

Daniel waited for Amanda to show up for their lunch. As he stood there, he glanced down at his phone sending a quick text to Betty. He found out this morning when he arrived at work that he had to make an unexpected business trip and needed to get a rain check on their date.

Honestly, he would rather spend the night singing bad karaoke with her than flying across the country…and further away from the woman he loved for two whole days, especially now that they had found one another.

He waited for a response but one never came. He figured that she probably had her phone off, due to her busy first day.

"Daniel, I'm sorry that I'm late." Amanda rushed towards him with a handful of shopping bags. "The doctor took forever."

"What did they say?"

"It's confirmed. I'm pregnant," said Amanda. "About six weeks…and while I can't be sure, I'm pretty sure that I got pregnant when you were out of town."

She added. "Are you still willing to take the DNA tests when the baby is born?"

"Of course." He said, as he hugged her supportively. He pulled away. "Did you talk to Becks?"

"He is out of town. He'll be back in a few days. I tried to tell him over the phone but I just couldn't do it," said Amanda. "I know that I've done some really stupid things, Daniel. Telling him that he might be a father over the phone just didn't seem right."

"That's probably a good idea. In person is the best way to give him news like that." Daniel ushered her into the restaurant, where they quickly found a table in the corner where they could talk.

He pulled out her chair. She slid in and he took the seat across from her. He glanced down at the shopping bags.

"What's in all the bags? I thought you were at the doctor's office."

"Oh…I found all these cute baby clothes. I picked up on the way to the doctor's office," said Amanda. She pulled out a magenta Gucci baby satin dress. "Isn't this cute? Oh…and…" She reached in the bag.

"Amanda, you might have a boy."

"True…I just couldn't help myself though," said Amanda sadly. "I got some boy's clothes too."

"Are you sure that you are okay?" Daniel asked. He wondered if it was a possibility that she was upset about him and Betty.

"Yes…No…I don't know. I figured that shopping would help get my mind off things I guess." Amanda said boldly.

"Is this about Betty and I?"

"Why would you think that?" She said sharply. Her voice was laced with a twinge of guilt. "I….don't know what you are talking about. I'm perfectly fine with the fact that you and Betty didn't come out of her apartment all weekend while I sat alone…trying to cancel all the wedding reservations."

"Okay…I'm not convinced." He knew there was something that Amanda wasn't telling him. He just didn't know what. "Something is wrong."

"I'm just nervous about talking to Becks." Amanda confessed. "I'm thinking of flying out tonight to go see him. I think it will help."

"He'll be back."

"It can't wait." She said impatiently. "I just want to get it over with."

"I understand." He figured it was best to drop it. It was her choice.

"You know. I almost forget," said Amanda. "I really should give you your ring back." She pulled it off her hand and reached across the table.

He reached across and placed his hand on top of hers. "You keep it."

* * *

As Betty's first day back at Meade Publications came to a close, she was beginning to wonder whether she should have stayed in bed with Daniel...or even just stayed in London. There things seemed less complicated.

It all started when she first walked into Meade Publications to the sight of everyone reading the news that had been splashed across the morning paper about the engagement of Amanda Tanen-Sommers and Daniel Meade.

_The portrait of the perfect couple plastered across the paper boldly._

She knew that Daniel had told her that his relationship with Amanda was over. She wanted to believe him. She knew she should believe in him that he would not lie to her. He had no reason to lie to her but that photo kept taunting her.

The expression on Amanda's face cut through Betty, almost as if it were telling her that there was no way that Daniel would chose Betty over her. After all, the track record spoke for itself.

_Amanda kissed Jesse. Amanda even briefly dated Matt._

Betty knew there had to be a mistake though. There just had to be. Once Betty had gotten through her first set of meetings, she had gathered her thoughts and knew that she needed to call Daniel. He would surely have an explanation for this. Before she could make that step, she overheard one of her employees talking about Daniel and Amanda and how Amanda was pregnant and that was the reason for the rushed nuptials.

Then, she got his text that he had to cancel their date because he had to go out of town. She never returned his text because honestly, she didn't know what to believe or what to say.

Right now, she was having her doubts about jumping into something with Daniel when obviously it wasn't over with Amanda. There was a baby. That seemed very unfinished to her.

And even though Betty knew that there was a possibility that the baby might not be Daniel's, there was also the possibility that it was.

_A very real possibility._

She wanted more than anything to believe that Daniel loved her but right now; she could honestly say that she wasn't sure of anything. Betty was actually starting to wonder whether her two days with Daniel was his way of saying good bye to her or having one last hoorah before marrying Amanda because he knew there was a baby.

_His baby._

She kept fighting that though. He wouldn't use her like that. She tried hard to hold on to that belief but found her resolve weakening with every hit that her new relationship was taking.

The final straw was when she saw the latest evening edition of Fashion Buzz, which showed photos of Daniel and Amanda holding hands in a Manhattan restaurant at lunch, along with a video of each of them getting on the same flight at JFK airport, bound for Las Vegas.

_To elope._

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	11. Chapter 11

**The Journey Home**

_Author's Note: Thank you for the feedback and comments. I really do appreciate you guys._

**Chapter 11**

* * *

As Daniel settled into his first class seat, he glanced down at his phone one more time before take-off and shutting it off. He didn't understand why Betty hadn't replied to him yet. He had sent her multiple text messages and left her several voice messages in the past five hours.

Not hearing from her made him feel uneasy about leaving her; perhaps he should make sure that Edwards was still locked up. If he wasn't, he really needed to get off this plane and make sure that Betty was safe.

He knew he should have told his boss that there was no way he could make this trip, especially after Edward's attack on Betty. It would have been a valid excuse.

The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt that getting on this plane was a huge mistake. He wanted to hear her voice more than anything and make sure that she was safe and ask how her first day went and also apologize for missing their date tonight.

Reluctantly, Daniel turned off his phone. He would just have to try to call her again once he landed in Las Vegas and before he caught his flight to Lose Angeles, just to check in and make sure she was okay.

This was going to be the longest five hour flight of his life.

A few seconds later, he felt a body fill the seat next to him. He looked over and couldn't believe his luck.

"Amanda."

"Oh…hi." She said casually, like it was nothing.

"What are you doing here?" He asked curiously.

"I'm going to see Becks. I told you that at lunch today," Amanda rolled her eyes.

"Does he know you are coming out there?"

"Yes. He's meeting me at the airport," said Amanda. "He doesn't know why though."

What were the odds that he and Amanda would be on the same flight, seated next to each other? He glanced over at Amanda and something had caught his eye.

Across the aisle, he saw a woman reading a newspaper. His and Amanda photo glared back at him. He leaned closer to see the words engagement popped off the page.

"Amanda, please tell me that you cancelled our engagement announcement." He knew he should have made that call himself but he had been pleasantly occupied with Betty.

And then today, he had been so busy today that he didn't even have a chance to look at a newspaper and now he knew why a few people congratulated him in the elevator.

"About that….Daniel, I'm sorry. It was too late by the time I called," said Amanda cautiously.

"Why didn't you tell me? I could have warned Betty." He closed his eyes and he let his head fall back against the seat. "No wonder she hasn't returned my calls. She thinks I lied to her."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know what to do, "Amanda said, as she looked like she was on the verge of tears. "Please don't be mad."

"Don't cry." Daniel unfastened his seat belt. "You could have told me at lunch, Amanda. I could have gone in person and talked to Betty about this. Who knows what lies that the paparazzi has thrown out there?

"Yeah…it's been all over the news this afternoon. They even know about the baby, Daniel. I just hope that Becks isn't watching television. I don't want him to find out this way."

Daniel jumped out of his seat. "I've got to get off this plane though. I've got to talk to her."

He reached into the overhead compartment to grab his carry-on. He turned around to see the flight attendant. "Sir, you need to sit down we are getting ready to take off."

"I have to get off the plane like right now." Daniel said adamantly.

"I'm sorry. It's too late. You will have to sit down." The flight attendant informed him.

Daniel shoved his carry on back in the compartment and then collapsed back into his seat. Once his seat beat was fastened, the attendant made her way back down the aisle.

"I'm sorry, Daniel. I really am." Amanda said sincerely.

"Amanda, just don't talk to me right now." He knew that if he said anything it would be harsh and yelling right now would only make things worse. After all, he couldn't totally blame Amanda for the mess that he had made his personal life.

And right now, he wasn't even sure that when this plane landed, if he would have any personal life left.

* * *

Betty had thought about going back to her apartment but she just couldn't. She knew that everywhere she looked she would be reminded of the two days that she and Daniel had spent there together.

_The bed that they slept in together. The shower they showered in together. The counter she sat on while he fed her ice cream from the carton._

It all hurt too much. She had to find a way to pull herself together and that's why she came home to Queens.

"What's wrong?" Hilda sat on the edge of Betty's old bed. "Today was the first day at your dream job and you look so unhappy. Do you want to talk about it?"

Betty just shrugged her shoulders as she buried the spoon in the carton of ice cream, which also reminded her of Daniel and tried her hardest not to allow the tears to fall. She knew if she said too much she would lose that battle very quickly.

"Is this about Daniel and Amanda's engagement?" Hilda took the spoon and carton from Betty's hands.

Betty nodded, as she finally spoke. "How did you know?"

"Well, Justin has been in a mood since the news broke. He was so sure that Daniel would have broken things off with Amanda and gone after you, especially after the way Daniel was looking at you the other night at your party and would barely let you dance with anyone else."

"He told me that he ended things with Amanda. He even found out that she was sleeping with his best friend, "said Betty.

"What?" Hilda narrowed his eyes. "What about the baby? Is it Daniels?"

"I don't know. Right now, I'm not really sure of anything. I just know that I can't stop loving him, Hilda."

"You love him?"

"Yes and we spent two of the most unbelievable days together. He also saved me from Edward's attack. He took care of me." Betty's tears began to flood. "I never felt so loved in my entire life and now….I just feel like none of it was real."

"Did something happen between the two of you?" Hilda asked inquisitively.

"I slept with him."

Hilda smiled. "Really. It's about time the two of you figured out what we have always known."

"Hilda, it wasn't real. We were supposed to go out tonight but he got called out of town unexpectedly."

"He's a busy guy. You know how demanding his job is. You should be proud of him," said Hilda.

"But he's on a plane to Las Vegas to marry Amanda because she's pregnant with his baby."

"Did he tell you that, Betty?"

"No. That's what big mouth, Suzuki said." She wiped her tears.

"You can't believe everything you hear on that show. You should know that better than anyone. I don't think that you have all the information and you need to talk with Daniel before you jump to conclusions…and you know what else I think?"

Betty lifted her eyes to Hilda's. "What?"

"I know that he wouldn't have slept with you, if he was still planned on marrying Amanda. You mean way too much to him for him to hurt you like that," said Hilda.

"So what am I supposed to do now?"

"Keeping trying to get ahold of him…and wait until you have all the answers and if he does something stupid, I promise that I will personally help you kick his ass."

"Okay." Betty reached for another spoon full of ice cream. She took a deep breath before she placed it in her mouth.

She knew that Hilda was right. She was jumping to conclusion. She needed to try to maintain her faith in Daniel, until she had the evidence to proof all the things he said to her were wrong.

And his plane wouldn't be landing for three more hours. Until then, she knew that there was no way that she would have any answers to the questions she had about Amanda, about the engagement and about the baby.

This was going to be the longest three hours of her entire life. Her future happiness counted on the answers that she would get she talked to Daniel.

"When does his plane land?" Hilda asked.

"In three hours." She said hoarsely. Her voice shook as she tried to keep her tears from raining down again.

"I'll tell you what. I'll go put the ice cream away." Hilda reached for her hand and squeezed it. "And then I'll come back and we'll wait together."

"Thank you." She sighed, as she looked over at the clock.

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	12. Chapter 12

**The Journey Home**

_Author's Note: Thank you for the feedback. I really do appreciate it._

**Chapter 12**

* * *

As soon as Daniel had arrived in Las Vegas, he got the first flight back to New York. Before he left Las Vegas, he tried to get a hold of Betty but he still got no answer.

This felt like the longest day of his life. He had to get back there and fix this mess before he lost Betty for good. Staying in Las Vegas until he reached her….or even going on with his business trip would only make matters worse.

It was time that he got things together. He didn't care what he had to do. He was going to do whatever it took to get Betty to forgive him.

Now, here he was, outside the Suarez house at 4:30 in the morning. Repeated attempts to call Betty's apartment told her that she was either in Queens or not ignoring his calls. His best guess was that she was in Queens because if Betty was upset with him, the last place she would go was going to be the apartment that he had gotten for her….where they had slept together….where they had spent two amazing days together.

He stood in front of the house. The house was dark. The sound of a couple cats fitting in the alley made Daniel jumped almost out of his skin, once he settled his heartbeat; he slowly made his way up the walk towards the door, as he contemplated if he should just ring the doorbell or not.

Just as he was about to press it, he thought better of it.

That was a bad idea. Wake everyone up….so that he could see not only Betty's disappointed expression but the disappointed expression on the face of every single member of her family.

Then Daniel had an idea, as he looked up at Betty's window on the second floor. He could see that the window was opened slightly and it didn't seem like far to climb. He could do it. He could climb up there and see if Betty was in her room.

Slowly but surely, Daniel made his way up the drain pipe. Half way up, he wondered if this thing was going to be able to hold his weight. He continued. There was nothing that was going to stop him. After all, he had crossed almost the entire country to get here. There was no way he was going to turn back now.

As he approached her window, he slowly lifted the window and peaked inside. Over on the bed, he realized that his instincts had been correct. Betty's dark hair lay across her pillow. The comforter pulled up over her shoulders.

Daniel opened the window the rest of the way and quietly slipped inside. He moved over to the bed and crawled onto the bed. As he reached for her shoulder to wake her, he couldn't have been prepared for what would happen next.

A wooden baseball bat was headed straight for his head and Hilda was screaming at the top of her lungs, as she continued to beat him with it.

X

"Do you think we should take him to the hospital?" Betty cleaned the cut on Daniel's forehead, as he lay unconscious in her old bed. "Why did you have to hit him so much?

"I didn't know that it was him." Hilda rolled her eyes. "He's lucky that Bobby wasn't here….or he might be dead right now."

Hilda moved to leave the room. "I'll go downstairs and get him some ice…and Tylenol. He's probably gonna need the whole bottle to get rid of the headache that he'll have when he wakes up."

As Betty heard her bedroom door close, she gazed back down at Daniel. Even in his current state, she was glad that he was here, instead of being in Las Vegas getting married to Amanda. She knew that he must have gone to a lot of trouble to get back to her because each of the voice mails he had left her had grown more and more frantic.

When she pulled her hand away from his forehead, his eyes flew open and immediately started trying to fight her off.

"Stop!" He held his hands up and tightened his eyes closed.

"Daniel. It's me."

He lowered his hands and opened his eyes. "Betty, oh Thank God. I'm so glad to see you." His arms grabbed her and pulled her forward against him.

"Ouch…" He winced in pain. He didn't seem to care though because he didn't let go of her, even a little bit.

"Daniel, why didn't you just ring the doorbell?"

"I didn't want to wake everyone up," said Daniel.

Betty pulled back when he finally released his grip on her. "Well, you did. We thought someone was trying to kill Hilda up here. Actually, you should consider yourself lucky she didn't kill you."

"Where were you?" Daniel asked. "It thought she was you."

"I was sleeping on the couch. I fell asleep trying to get ahold of you." Betty had to admit now that the drama had died down and they told the neighborhood watch lady to go home and take her Pepper Spray with her. It was kind of funny that Daniel had gone to such an extreme to get to her.

"Cell phone battery died about half way back to New York." He admitted.

"Oh…" She said simply.

Of course, that didn't mean that he was off the hook. Though, she had a lot of time to think things through. She was going to hear what he had to say.

"Oh…" Daniel lay back down against the pillows and lifted his hand to his head. "My head…"

"Hilda is getting your some for your headache."

He closed his eyes and nodded his head. He turned his head, opened his eyes and looked directly at her. "I'm sorry, Betty. I've made a big mess of everything."

"Yes. I guess you could say that."

"I need you to hear me out."

"I'm listening, Daniel."

"I did break off the engagement with Amanda. She just didn't get the announcement cancelled in time," said Daniel. "And I really was going on a business trip and I had no intention on eloping with Amanda"

Betty nodded. "So why were you on the same plane with her?"

"She was going to see Becks and tell him about…the baby."

"The baby?" Betty felt ill. So…it was true. There was a baby.

"Betty, there is no way of really knowing right now, if the baby is mine or not," said Daniel. "You even saw Amanda and Becks all over each other."

This was true but Betty still didn't know what to say. The possibility that Daniel might have a child with Amanda was a huge thing. It was almost too much for their very new relationship to handle.

"Daniel, if you need to marry Amanda…"

"Betty, I am not going to marry Amanda. Getting married just because she might be having my child is the wrong thing to do. It would just lead to disaster. We would end up divorced."

"But…"

"Betty, there is a good chance that the baby belongs to Becks, due to the timing. But if the baby is mine, I will take responsibility for it. I will take care of him or her and love them….but that doesn't mean that I don't want to be with you or that I don't want us to have a life together too."

He took her hand. "I want us to have a family together one day. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I should have told you that a long time ago, Betty. I should have never let you go because you are my heart, Betty Suarez."

"Daniel, I don't know what to say."

"Tell me that you love me that would probably be a good start," said Daniel.

Of course, she loved him. There was a part of her that was resisting the urge to just forgive him without giving him a lot of grief for not telling her about Amanda's baby. After all, that was a really important piece of information.

"I…." Betty bit her lip, as she figured that a few seconds of making him wonder wasn't totally unheard of. "Well….I don't know."

She let go of his hand and saw Daniel's panicked expression.

"Betty, I love you. I just asked you to spend the rest of our lives together and you don't know." Daniel chuckled. "I asked you to marry me, Betty."

"What? No you didn't."

"Yes, I did. I want you to be my wife. You are the only one that I want to marry…whether it's tomorrow…a week from now….or ten years. I want to be able to tell the world that you are the only one that I want to be with."

"You mean it?" Betty asked sincerely.

"I should have told you a long time ago, Betty. I told you that. If I hadn't been such a coward, Edward never would have had chance to get into your life because I would have been there, protecting you."

"Daniel, it's all so complicated. I know you love me and I love you but I don't know. It's all so fast." Betty frowned, as inside she loved watching him squirm a bit.

"I will wait…I'll wait however long I have to. I just want to be with you."

"You sound kind of desperate," said Betty. "I don't think I've ever seen you like this before."

He sat us and tried edge towards her on the bed. "I am desperate and I would gladly allow your family to use me as their piñata again, if it means that you will say yes."

"Well when you put it like that. I guess there is only one way that I can answer your proposal, Daniel."

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	13. Chapter 13

**The Journey Home**

_Author's Note: Thank you for your feedback and comments. I appreicate it very much_**.**

* * *

**Chapter 13**

Daniel waited for his answer. He knew that this wasn't the most romantic of proposals, given the circumstance. He would have come up with something way more grand that this. He didn't even have a ring to give her. All he could hope was that she would overlook that and agree to be his wife.

Whether it was now…or a year from now, he just wanted her to know that he wanted her and no one else.

"Are you gonna leave me hanging all day, Betty?" He tried not to sound impatient.

"Maybe I should." She said seriously. "I might even make you wait longer than a day."

"Betty,seriously." His eyes focused on the corners of her mouth. There was the hint of a smile there but then it seemed to disappear. She pulled her eyes away from his. "You are joking right?"

"Daniel, I want to say yes…" She lifted her eyes.

"Why do I feel there is a but?"

"But…I am going to have to say no."

"What? Why? You said you loved me." Daniel felt as if someone had stabbed him in the heart.

"And I do but this is crazy. Hilda obviously hit you on the head way too hard and you are talking crazy. I can't marry you right now."

"I didn't say right now."

She released his hand and got up from the edge of the bed. "Daniel, I'll be right back. I want to see what is taking Hilda so long. I'm starting to think that maybe we should go to the hospital and get you a CAT scan because there is obviously some kind of brain damage."

He jumped up from the bed, despite the pain that he was in. She spun around.

"Daniel, get back in bed…"

Before she could finish, he fell to his knees in front of her, and grabbed her hand. "Betty, marry me."

"Daniel, get up off the floor." She tried to pull him upwards. "I already gave you an answer."

"I can't live without you." He held onto her hand, kissing it. There was no way that he was letting her go anywhere.

Betty took her free hand and ran it over the top of his head. "She really hit you hard."

"This isn't about getting hit on the head. I really want to marry you."

Betty gazed down at him. "Daniel…"

The door flew opened. Hilda stood there with a glass of water and a bottle of Tylenol.

"Oh…" Hilda froze and made no attempts to move closer. Daniel and Betty both stared at her. "I think I'll leave you two alone." She quickly deposited the glass and the bottle of pills on the dresser and hurried out of the room.

"Betty, this has nothing to do with your sister hitting me in the head repeatedly," said Daniel. "I know that I made a mess of things but I know that asking you to marry me is the first step in making things right."

He added. "I don't care if we get married today…tomorrow…or a year from now. I just want you by my side."

"And I will be by your side, when I take you to the hospital." She attempted to get him off the floor again and took a quick glance back at the door. "Just let me call the office and tell them that I have to take you to the hospital."

"Please marry me." He pleaded. "And I don't need to go to the hospital. I just need you."

"You really are serious, aren't you?" Betty lowered herself down onto the floor.

"Yes. I'm serious, Betty."

"It's crazy. It's too fast. I have the magazine to launch and you might be a father to Amanda's baby," said Betty. "I think that we should wait and see how things pan out with those things."

"I've told you that has nothing to do with us. I know that it isn't the ideal situation but it's nothing is going to change the fact that you are the one that I want to marry and spent my life with. Amanda knows that," said Daniel. "Anyway, we aren't going to know for sure whether or not the baby is mine until it is born. I can't wait that long."

He added. "Eight months will be an eternity. I don't want to wait that long for you to marry me."

Betty let out a giggle. "You are so funny."

"Why are you laughing me? I'm trying to pour my heart out and tell you that you are the only one that I want and you are laughing at me." Daniel let out a groan.

"You said earlier that you were willing to wait a year or more a minute ago and now eight months seems like an eternity," said Betty.

"Well, it is." Daniel dropped her hand and began to get up off the floor. As he did, he felt himself get dizzy. He stumbled forward.

"Daniel…" She jumped up and rushed towards him. "Are you okay? What do you need?"

"If you could get the room to stop spinning that would be great." She came around the front of him and tried to steady him but he felt he was losing the battle fast.

* * *

Betty knew that he needed to go to the hospital. She wished she had made him go before he ended up passed out on top of her.

Talk about the awkward moment when her father and Hilda found her pinned underneath Daniel's body on the floor of her bedroom. The shocked expressions on their faces were ones Betty knew she would never forget.

It was one of those moments that she knew that she and Daniel would look back on and laugh, years from now.

Betty did her best to make Daniel comfortable. "Do you need another pillow?"

"No." His eyes followed her around the room.

"Are you hungrey? Papi brought some food over, so that we wouldn't have to cook."

"Betty, you don't have to wait on me hand and foot. I'm fine." Daniel sat against the headboard of her king sized bed.

"You have a concussion, Daniel." She turned on the television.

"Go to work. I'll be fine here," said Daniel.

"I'm not leaving you. I can work from home," said Betty. "At least, until your mother gets here to watch you while I run to the office to check on things."

"You called my mother." Daniel sat up a little too quickly. He got dizzy and laid back down.

"Actually, she called me when she couldn't get a hold of you," said Betty. "She was freaking out because Suzuki was telling everyone that you and Amanda were seen in a Las Vegas wedding chapel and you were getting married."

"What?" He sat up again. "Did you tell her that was not happening? You did tell her that I called off the wedding with Amanda."

"Yes. I did. I figured that someone needed to tell her. After all, she thought she was still planning a wedding and then she turns on the television to see that you were eloping." Betty crawled on to the bed next to him and snuggled up to him. "She was ready for a meltdown."

"Did you tell her about Amanda's baby?" He asked as if he was afraid to bring up the subject.

"No. I didn't. It's not my place to do that. I'll leave that to you but do think that you should know that I did manage to find out that Amanda and Becks are actually the ones that eloped in Las Vegas. Everyone just thought it was you."

"Amanda and Becks got married?"

"Yeah. It appears so."

"Did you tell my mom that?"

"No. I figured that it was enough for her to know that you and Amanda weren't getting married. I didn't need to throw the baby and Amanda's new husband into the mix. She was already worried enough about you being in the hospital."

"She was okay, right?" He seemed to be calmed by the closeness. "About the wedding being called off."

"She was but I told her not to cancel anything."

"Betty, Amanda and I aren't getting married. She's already married to Becks. You just told me that two seconds ago. And anyway, I don't want to marry her. I want to marry you."

"Exactly." Betty smiled.

"Huh? What did you just say?"

"You want to marry me. I want to marry you," said Betty. "So…in less than two weeks, we are going to get married."

"I thought that you wanted to wait and see how things pan out with…"

"I think that we have waited long enough and wasted enough time. We've been through enough in the last five and half years to know that we can get through any challenge that we are presented with. We are a pretty awesome team. I came back to New York to start a new magazine and a new life. I can't think of a better way to start it than with my best friend."

"Me either." Daniel grinned.

"Plus, I'm going to be so busy with the magazine soon that I'm not even going to be able to think about getting married or planning a wedding."

"I'm so glad that our marriage fits with your career goals." Daniel seemed stung.

"Well, I could always wait until the magazine is off the ground. I think it will be at least a year," said Betty playfully. "A lot can happen in a year. I thought you might want to get started on making up for lost time."

"Okay!" Daniel quickly recovered, as he tugged her closer. "I get your point."

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	14. Chapter 14

**The Journey Home**

Author's Note: Thank for the feedback and comments. I appreicate it.

**Chapter 14**

* * *

In the darkness of the dining room, Betty sat at the dining room table. Her work spread out before her and even some had made it on the floor. A mixture of magazines related work and wedding details that had yet to be attended to.

As Betty typed away on her laptop, she was eager to finish just a bit more work before she went to bed.

"There you are." Daniel flipped on the kitchen light.

Betty jumped a little, startled by Daniel's sudden appearance. "Yeah."

"It's almost 2:00 in morning. Are you ever coming to bed?" Daniel padded across the wood floor.

"In a minute." She didn't even look up as he approached, just continued to type away.

He moved in behind her, placing his strong hands on her tense shoulders. He leaned down to her ear and whispered. "That's what you said two hours ago. I would like to have my fiancée in bed at an earlier hour."

"Believe me, there isn't anything I want more than to be able to..." Her fingers stopped when she felt him begin to rub her shoulders. "Oh…that feels so good." She leaned back and pulled her hands away from the keyboard.. "So…good."

He pulled his hands away and began to move away.

"Why did you stop?" Betty leaned her head backwards. Daniel gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.

"There will be more waiting for you, when you come to bed." Daniel said suggestively.

Betty had his number. The massage was an obvious attempt to tempt her to come to bed and to be honest: there was nothing that she wanted more. She was pretty sure that no sleep would be happening once she did get there though.

"I don't think I'm ever going to get to bed. I have so much to do," said Betty.

"Anything that I can help with?" Daniel asked.

"There's so much." She began to sort through the pile of papers. "I have the seating chart for the reception. Your mom wanted me to look over it." She continued to shuffle through the heap of papers. "Maybe….where the heck is it? It was just here."

She began to frantically search until Daniel grabbed her hand. "Calm down. I'm sure that it's here, Betty.

Betty looked up at him and saw his eyes searching the mess on the table. "Somewhere…."

"Why haven't you hired an assistant?" Daniel asked.

"I haven't had time." Betty said softly.

"You need help, Betty. You aren't Wonder Woman."

"It's no big deal. The wedding is in three days." Betty stood up.

"You know you could ask Amanda to help you with all this. I know that she would like the distraction," said Daniel.

"No. It's fine. I can handle it. Amanda has enough to deal with now," said Betty. "Anyway, it's kind of odd asking your former fiancée to help me remember to go to my dress fitting on Tuesday."

"Betty, its Wednesday," said Daniel.

"What?" Betty grabbed her cell phone. The ringer was off and now she could see that there were about 50 calls from Hilda and Claire. "I missed my dress fitting. Crap!"

Betty closed her eyes. How could she forget something as important as her wedding dress? The wedding was in three days….make that two days.

She collapsed in the chair. Her teary eyes looked up at Daniel. "This is a disaster."

"I'm sure they can get you in this morning." Daniel knelt before her. "It's going to be okay."

"No. It's not. That was the only opening they had for a month and now I'm going to have to get married naked."

Daniel chuckled. "As much as I think that sounds like a great idea…." He tried to suppress his laughter. "I'm sure that we can figure something out."

"You think?"

"Yes…but only if you come to bed and take the rest of the week off, we are getting married in two days…and you can't tell me that your work for the magazine can't wait. You still have six months until the launch."

"But we are only getting married once…and this is the most important day of our lives," said Daniel.

Betty knew that Daniel was right. She was focusing the wrong things. The magazine could wait. The whole point of rushing the wedding was so that she would have the time to focus on it once they were married.

"Daniel...I'm sorry." She reached over down and saved her work, shutting down her computer. "You are right."

"So does that mean that you are coming to bed?" Daniel took her hands in his.

"Yes."

"Good." Then, he brought his lips to hers and she eagerly melted into his kiss. His hands reached underneath the front of her shirt.

She broke the kiss. "This isn't the bedroom."

"Never stopped us before." Daniel said mischievously, as he quickly reached for her and pulled her closer.

"This is true." She lunged forward, tumbling down on top of him and onto the floor.

* * *

Daniel glanced down at his watch. It was almost 9:00. He was late for his own bachelor party because he was working to finish up everything before he took the next five days off to get married to the love of his life and his best friend.

So much for telling Betty to work less, he was guilty of the same thing.

He told Becks that he didn't want a bachelor party. After all, his life has been one big bachelor party, full of things that meant nothing to him now. They couldn't hold a candle to what he had with Betty.

Still, Becks had rented out the entire seventh floor at The Amsterdam and a massive suite, just for the occasion. A move that Daniel figured had everything to do with Beck's guilty conscience about sleeping with Amanda and then marrying her in Las Vegas, less than two weeks earlier

Honesty, though Daniel was happy for Becks and Amanda. They actually made more sense together than he and Amanda ever did. It didn't matter now though because soon Daniel would be married to Betty.

Daniel started to knock on the door but then stopped himself and tried to collect his thoughts. . He could hear the music coming from the other side of the door. He was determined that he would have one….maybe two drinks and then it was home to Betty.

There was going to be no questions about his faithfulness. He didn't want to give Betty any reason to change her mind about marrying him.

Not that she would. He knew that Betty trusted him.

It was Becks and all his buddies from college and work that he didn't trust.

If there were strippers, he was out of there. He had made it very clear that there were going to be no strippers at his bachelor party. He had a feeling that Becks wasn't listening to that part because he could have sworn that he heard Becks on the phone with the manager from Scores.

As far as he was concerned, there was only one woman he wanted. He would make an appearance and then he came up with an excuse to go home, where he could be with Betty for a while before they had to part ways until their wedding.

Or better yet, perhaps she could ditch her bachelorette party and the two of them could use one of the many rooms that were at their disposal.

_Now that sounded like an entertaining idea._

He pulled his phone out of his, dialed her number and hoped that she picked up. He just wanted to hear her voice and possibly toss the idea he had her way.

The phone continued to ring and ring. This made Daniel even more nervous because Betty usually always answered his calls when they weren't together, especially since Edward had been from jail.

And now she wasn't picking up her phone. Daniel knocked on the door. He would just tell Becks that he had to go find Betty.

There was no answer there either. They probably couldn't hear the knock due to loud music. Daniel turned to leave. He would just call Becks on the way to find Betty and explain the situation, telling him that he would be back as soon as he could.

As Daniel rounded the corner to reach the elevator, he heard a door open and found himself being pulled inside into the darkness. There were two pairs of hands on him. One on each side of him.

He struggled but it was no use. The more he fought, the more forceful they got.

"Hey! What's going on?" They shoved Daniel into the chair. A blind fold was immediately tightened around his eyes and they tied his hands behind his back.

Despite his own fear, the only thing that he could think of was Betty and whether she was safe or not.

He heard the sounds of duct tape being torn. He tried to yell. It was useless though, as they secured it over his mouth in a matter of seconds.

This was bad. Daniel didn't like the feel in the room, as he heard the door slam.

He had a feeling that he wasn't alone though. Someone else was in the room.

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	15. Chapter 15

**The Journey Home**

_Author's Note: Thank you for the comments and feedback. I appreciate everyone for taking the time to read and comment. You guys are awesome._

**Chapter 15**

* * *

Dressed in a black overcoat, Betty was more than petrified on the ride over that someone would figure out that she had nothing to nothing underneath the coat. She had never been so thankful in her life that she was able to take the town car from her apartment to The Amsterdam. She couldn't imagine what she would have done if she had to take a cab or the subway.

Of course once Betty arrived at the hotel, she found the ability to blend in was not that hard at all, especially since she was sharing the elevator with two strippers that were talking about Daniel like he was a trophy or something.

Betty resisted the urge to name herself as Daniel's fiancée. After all, there was no way in hell they were even going to get a chance to give the groom a lap dance. That's what she was there for….if she could get the courage.

She still couldn't believe that she was doing this. This had to be the craziest thing that she had ever done in her whole life.

_EVER. EVER._

As the three of them stepped off the elevator, Becks and two other guys were coming out of room 414. It was the room that Becks had promised to reserve just for the private party that she had planned for her and Daniel.

"Hey, sweetheart," One of the tall dark and handsome men threw his arms around Betty's shoulder. "The party's this way."

"Hands off, Ethan. That's the bride." Becks called his buddy out on his actions. Ethan withdrew his arm from Betty.

"Oh…Sorry!" Ethan threw his hands up and then quickly turned his attention to the blonde that was making her way towards the party at the end of the hall; the sounds of music coming from the suite was a clear sign that there was a pretty wild party going on there.

As the other two men headed down the hall with the entertainment for the evening, Betty let out a sigh.

"Thanks." She said gratefully.

"No problem. I figured I owe him for not kicking my ass over, eloping with his former fiancée...and well, everything else too.

"Yeah." Betty said.

It would be the last though. Becks and Amanda were married…and now she and Daniel were getting married in less than 24 hours. Then, she and Daniel would spend 3 fabulous days alone on their honeymoon.

"Well?" She asked. "Is it done?"

"Delivered as promised." Becks held open the door for her. "Now…the rest of us will be down the hall with the real strippers." He placed a small key in her hand.

She wondered if she should taken offense to that comment. Then, she realized that it didn't matter. Daniel had said no strippers. And he was getting his wish.

"Thanks." She entered the room and it slammed behind her. As she moved through the dark room, she came upon a lamp. She switched it on and it flooded the room with light.

When she saw Daniel across the room, she could honestly say that this was not what she had in mind at all and the next time she saw Becks she was going to make sure she gave him a piece of her mind.

_A blind fold. Yes. Hand cuffs. Yes. Duct Tape. No._

Betty hurried across the room, tossing her bag down on the floor as she went. Her poor Daniel must scared out of his mind. This was a horrible idea.

She reached for the edge of the tape. Her fingertips brushed his cheek and he started to murmur something….and it didn't sound like anything nice.

With one swift action, she pulled the tape off. She cringed as she did it, practically feeling the pain.

"AHHH! Who the…"

Betty quickly removed his blind fold, so he could see that it was her. As soon as she pulled off the blindfold, she could instantly see the relief in his eyes.

"Betty, sweetie…Thank god! Are you okay?" His eyes looked her up and down. She could see panic there. "They didn't hurt you."

Her hand gentle stroked his cheek, where the tape had been and tried to soothe any pain. "No. They didn't…no…no…God, this is all my fault."

"Betty, don't be crazy. Help me out of these cuffs. We probably should get out of here." He looked around. "Do you know how to get these cuffs off? "

"Daniel, I'm the one that had you kidnapped." She admitted hesitantly.

"You?" Daniel said with a little seductive smirk. "You did this?"

"You said no strippers. So…I got the idea from Becks," said Betty timidly.

"You got an idea from Becks? Now you have my attention." Daniel chuckled. "How did Becks give you this idea?"

"Remember how I was going to be your best man and that I was going to help with your bachelor party?"

Daniel narrowed his eyes a bit, as he put the pieces together. "Okay. What about it?"

"Well, Becks said that I should have been the entertainment. So I figured that you might like that but it went way further than I thought." She stroked his face gently. "I'm going to kill him them for using duct tape."

She added, apologetically. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, sweetie. I'm sure that when we've been married 20 years we will look back and laugh at this. Right now, I'm just glad that you aren't hurt. I was kind of panicked when I couldn't get ahold of you. I was ready to turn over every rock in the city because I thought that Edward might have gotten to you…or hurt you."

He glanced up, as Betty brought her hands to his face. Their eyes met. "I'm fine." She whispered.

Daniel grinned mischievously. His eyes stared down and he tilted his head, just a bit to attempt to see what she was wearing underneath the long black coat.

His curiosity was making Betty's face flame with warmth. She couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed that she thought she pull off something like this. This was something Amanda…or even Hilda would try.

"So…what kind of entertainment did you have in mind?"

Betty giggled. "Daniel…I…"

"Come on." His eyes lit up as he dared her to move forward. "Take off the coat."

Betty pulled the tie of the coat and it opened, revealing what lied beneath.

_A sheer red nightie and matching panties._

"Wow…" Daniel's eye grew wide. "You look….wow…wow…oh wow. Betty."

Betty rolled her eyes and giggled, as she finished removing her coat. "Is that all you can say?"

"You came all the way here in that." He licked his lips. His eyes seemed seem to devour each part of her.

"Yes." Betty nodded, as she sat on his lap.

"Hell…I would have stayed home if I knew you wanted to play." Daniel took a closer look at her breasts and then looked up at her. She quickly met his lips once again, heatedly.

She could feel Daniel struggling with his hands. Betty could tell that he was already growing extremely impatient with his restrictive situation.

"Get me out of these cuffs," Daniel whispered, as she allowed him access to her neck. His tongue tickled the pulse point on her neck. She pressed her body closer his, as she balanced herself on his lap, as she un-buttoned a few buttons of his shirt single-handedly and stuck her hand inside, feeling the smoothness of his gorgeous chest. "I want to touch you, Betty."

She suddenly felt empowered that she could pretty much do whatever she wanted him to do and he was couldn't really do anything.

_It was like…it was her turn to be the boss. _

"I don't know if I should." She giggled playfully, as he continued his attack on her neck. "I think I might make you wait until the after the wedding."

He quickly pulled stopped in his tracks and gazed up at her. "You wouldn't…"

"Maybe. I would."

"Well, then I think we are going to need to push up the wedding then…like straight to the airport…onto an airplane to Las Vegas to the nearest wedding chapel." He returned his lips to her neck. "This second."

"We are getting married tomorrow night." Betty was losing the battle to make Daniel suffer. His lips were driving her crazy.

"We can be back before anyone even knows we are gone….if we leave now," said Daniel.

"But…your bachelor party?"

"Oh…yes. This best bachelor party ever." Daniel lifted his face, insisting on a kiss. With every second, she could tell that he was growing more and more aroused.

And it was obvious that the blood was not flowing to his brain at the moment because he had lost the ability to think rationally.

"Come Betty. I can't wait to marry you." Daniel murmured. "No one ever has to know. It could be our little secret."

"A little secret…a secret that we would have to keep for the rest of our lives," said Betty. "Our families…and your mother would kill us."

"And they will still get the wedding. The wedding isn't until tomorrow night. We can get back before anyone knows that we are gone," said Daniel.

"It's crazy, Daniel."

"That's why I think we should do it. We should have done it a long time ago. If we had thrown caution to the wind, you would already be my wife."

"Well…" She bit her lip.

"Come on, sweetie" He gave her that look that she knew would make it impossible to tell him no. It was like despite his captive situation. He still had his own way of getting to her, even without touching her. "Get me out of these cuffs before I explode. If we hurry, we can even have a honeymoon preview...because I'm pretty desperate here."

"Okay…" Betty jump off his lap and glanced at his lap. His predicament was clear. "What did I do with that key?"

She remembered having the key in her hand. She must have dropped it to the floor with her bag, in her rush to get the tape off Daniel's mouth. Betty got down on her hands and knees to begin her search.

"Oh. God, Sweetie. Not helping." He groaned.

Betty turned to see that Daniel's eyes were on her backside.

"What?" Betty smiled wickedly.

"Just hurry up." Daniel was practically panting at this point. "Before I break these hand cuffs."

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	16. Chapter 16

**The Journey Home**

_Author's Note: Thank you for the feedback and comments. Enjoy!_

**Chapter 16**

* * *

Betty continued to search the floor on her hands and knees. "It's got to be here somewhere. Maybe it went underneath the bed." She looked there but saw nothing, but darkness and a few dust bunnies. Or wait a minute…there was something that looked metallic and flat. "I think I found it."

She reached her arm underneath to retrieve the shiny object. It was just out of her reach…just a bit closer.

"I hope so." Daniel said in a desperate tone. "I'm a man with a loaded gun over here."

"Just close your eyes, Daniel. Thing about something else."

"It doesn't help, Betty."

"Think about baseball."

"No…that makes me thing about sex more."

Betty stopped her search and looked back at Daniel with a puzzled expression. "How?"

"First base…second base…third base."

"Oh…" Betty giggled. "What about bunnies?"

"Sweetie…" He chuckled. "Just find the key…because thinking about bunnies isn't going to help me now."

"I can't even put into words what I want to do to you right now." Daniel said wolfishly. Betty smiled and went back to her search.

"Got it." She felt the piece of metal on her fingertips. She pulled it out and held it in her hand. "That's not it." She looked up at him.

"What is it?" Daniel groaned in frustration, as he tried to get comfortable.

"A quarter."

"That's not enough money for a condom…which I need about right now." His head flew backwards and he let out frustrated groan. Betty could see that Daniel's problem wasn't getting any smaller.

She got up from her spot on the floor and made her way back over to him.

"I could go get Becks." She sat on his lap once again, teasing him.

"I don't think he's going to be able to help me with my immediate problem…and if you think that I'm going to let you go to a bachelor party dressed like that…well, you are out of your mind."

"You sound a little jealous, sweetie" She caressed his cheek.

"I didn't like seeing other men looking at you. It drives me crazy to think about…and then I had to watch Edward and you together, while I was so in love with you."

"I'm all yours now…and forever." Betty rubbed her hand on his chest, toying with one of the buttons on his shirt. She met his lips in a fiery kiss.

As they parted, they leaned their foreheads together. "I just want to get out of here so we can just get married already. Twenty four hours is way too long to wait for you to be my wife."

"I guess I will just have to find a way to distract you." Betty smiled mischievously. She slid off his lap and to the floor. As her knee met the carpet, she felt something hard press into her knee.

"Ouch…" She moved her knee.

"What?"

Betty looked up at Daniel with a gigantic smile. "It's the key. You must have covered it with your shoe."

"Thank God! Get me out of these hand cuff, baby."

Betty grabbed the key and quickly moved around to the back of the chair. She quickly unlocked the hand cuff.

As soon as Daniel was free, he pushed the chair out-of-the-way, pulling her up from the floor and pulling her to him, giving her a kiss.

"Give me a second." Daniel gave her a seductive smile, as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket. Betty listened as Daniel called the Meade pilot and advised that they would need to use the Meade plane, as soon as possible. All the while, he never let go off her.

"I see…Whatever." Daniel continued his call. "I don't care what you have to do. Get me a plane. I don't care what it costs. I'll pay it. We'll be there in an hour…and keep this quiet."

"Is something wrong?" Betty asked, as Daniel hung up the phone and placed it on the table.

"Wilhelmina took the plane this afternoon. She won't be back until tomorrow." Daniel let out a sigh. "But he's going figure something out."

"Maybe, we should just wait to get married. It's not like we have to wait that long," said Betty. "We could just stay here and enjoy the room. I don't have to be at Hilda's afternoon."

"We could be there and back by then….and married." He took her hand and entwined their fingers.

"But we could stay here and have fun." Betty giggled.

"We can do that on the plane too." Daniel pointed out. "Haven't you heard of the mile high club? I've been dying to join."

"What? You can't tell me that you've never…" Betty looked at his suspiciously. There was no way that with Daniel's extensive history that he had never had sex on an airplane.

"I've never….not on an airplane. You would be my first…and last."

Betty wrapped her arms around Daniel's neck. "You really know how to sweet talk a woman."

"So…are we going to do this? Get married?"

Betty nodded enthusiastically and drew in her breath. "Yes."

* * *

Once Daniel and Betty resolved his problem, they got dressed. Betty put on the jeans and sweater than she had brought. In the back of the town car, they headed across town to make a quick stop at their apartment to pick up the rings.

"I just need to run to the pharmacy down the block and pick up a few things while you are getting the rings."

"Can you pick up some supplies for me?" He asked suggestively.

"Like it probably matters now." Betty giggled. "Mr. Quick Draw."

"Hey….you got me excited. I couldn't hold it in any longer," said Daniel.

The car came to a stop outside their building. "I'll be right down in 15 minutes." Daniel grinned. He couldn't believe that in only a matter of hours. Betty was going to be his wife.

The plane was waiting to take them away to Las Vegas where they would be married quietly…and returned to New York for tomorrow's celebration of their love…..and then to the honeymoon….and then the start of their life together.

"Okay." Betty smiled as she met his lips in a simple and sweet kiss. "Oh…could you grab something else for me to wear? I really don't want to get married in jeans."

"Sure…you trust me to pick out your clothes." Daniel grinned.

"Well, you are a former fashion editor." Betty beamed. "I trust you."

"Okay. I'll be right back….ten minutes tops." Daniel gave her another quick kiss. "I love you."

"I love you." She nodded happily. Daniel exited the car, moving as quickly as he could towards the elevator. The faster he could get back to Betty, the faster that they could be on that plane.

Once upstairs, Daniel grabbed a bag and started throwing things inside. He picked out a simple strapless blue dress that he loved on her….and shoes. She would need some shoes too.

He wandered back into her closet, grabbed a pair of shoes….and a few things from her lingerie drawer. The last and most important item he grabbed was the wedding rings. He was suddenly grateful that he hadn't handed them over to Bobby for safe keeping.

His phone rang and he pulled it from his pocket. It was Betty.

"I'm on my way." He grinned.

"Good. I'm down stairs waiting on you….future husband. "Betty informed him.

"I'll be there in a minute…future wife. I'll see you soon." Daniel hung up, grabbed the bag and locked up the apartment.

As he stepped on the elevator, he heard a voice call out.

"Hold the door."

Daniel pressed the button to hold the elevator. Amanda stepped on and the doors closed.

"Hey….I figured would be with Betty."

"I actually just had to grab a few things for us." Daniel held up the bag.

"Seems like a lot of stuff for a night at a hotel…with your fiancée stripping for you. Didn't thing there would be many clothes involved with that."

"You knew about that."

"Becks told me." Amanda said seductively. "You don't expect that my husband would keep stuff from me."

"I guess not."

"I want you to know that I am very happy for you and Betty," said Amanda sincerely.

"I'm happy for you and Becks too." The elevator doors opened and the pair made their way through the lobby. "I have to admit that I didn't see that coming."

"To be honest, I didn't either. It just kind of happened." Amanda stopped, just as they reached the door. She looked out the doors and saw the town car. "So…are you and Betty eloping?"

"What…what makes you think that?" Daniel said uncomfortably.

"Because I know that you can't wait to marry Betty. I guess in a way, I've always known that you were in love with her," said Amanda. "And that you would do anything for her. I guess that's why I pushed the marriage thing. I was afraid of losing you. Once we were engaged…and she came back, I started to realize that it felt wrong to take you away from the one that you really loved. Of course, I did temporarily lose my mind when I found out about the baby…because I really didn't think that Becks would want to stick around."

"He surprised you though."

"He did." Amanda grinned.

Daniel felt the urge to be honest with Amanda too. She obviously knew him better than he thought she did.

"We are going to Las Vegas…but Amanda, you can't tell anyone. We'll be back before anyone knows that we are gone."

"My lips are sealed." Amanda laughed. "Before you go, I just need to tell you something though. It's important."

"Okay." He didn't like her grave tone.

Suddenly, there was a loud and fiery explosion in front of the building. The glass of the lobby shattered and threw both him and Amanda to the floor forcefully.

Daniel tried to gather himself as he laid amount the glass and debris. The smoke was thick and lingered through the air. "Amanda?" He glanced around. He reached over for her in the haze.

"I'm fine…" Amanda slowly sat up. Her eyes went towards the doorway trying to figure out what happened. She let out a blood curdling scream. "Daniel…." Her shaking hand pointed outside.

Daniel turned to see the town car, engulfed in flames.

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	17. Chapter 17

**The Journey Home**

_Author's Note: Thank you for the comments and feedback. I really appreciate it. There is only about two more chapters left of this story._

**Chapter 17**

Betty moved quickly through the apartment, headed for the bedroom. The place was quiet and there was no sign of Daniel. She rushed into the bedroom to grab her B necklace from the dresser, where she had left it earlier this afternoon when she was preparing for Daniel's bachelor party. She felt practically naked without it and she couldn't imagine getting married without it around her neck.

With the necklace securely in her hand, she tried to call Daniel again and let him know that she was on her way back down to the car. If he was in the car, he surely would have gotten the message that she had left with the driver that she had to run upstairs to retrieve her necklace.

Suddenly, she felt the building shutter, accompanied by a loud noise. She hurried over to the window and looked outside to find the source. She glanced down at the street below.

The flames were shooting upwards….A car was on fire right in front of the building.

_A specific car. Their town car._

_Daniel._

Her heart dropped. If he wasn't here, he was probably in the car.

Betty dropped the necklace on the floor and rushed out the apartment. She didn't even take a second to close the door behind her. The only thing that mattered was Daniel.

She punched the elevator button repeatedly, as tears rolled down her cheek. She never prayed so hard in her life.

After five excruciating minutes, the elevator still had not arrived. She suspected that it was probably not working and she rushed for the stairwell. Her heart pounded with every step she took on her journey down the six flights of stairs to the lobby.

Once she arrived, she found that smoke had filled the lobby. She coughed, as she tried to make her way through to the outside. She stepped through the glass and debris. When she reached the outside, she saw that there were firefighters were already on the scene, putting out the fire.

There was a crowd gathering, with the police keeping people away.

"Betty."

Betty turned to see Amanda standing there, stunned. She hurried over to her and threw her arms around her.

"I can't believe it. You are okay." She thought Amanda was going to hug the air out of her. "We thought…" The expression on Amanda's face told Betty everything she needed to know. Amanda thought that Betty had been in the car.

"Where's Daniel?" Betty said in a shaky breath. "Where's Daniel?"

"He's in the ambulance. He got too close to the fire, trying to get you out of there." Amanda said tearfully. "There is no doubt in my mind that he would have done anything to get you out, if they hadn't dragged him away."

"Betty, he loves you so much." Amanda said. "I don't know how I could have ever gotten in the way of that."

"Daniel, I have to get to him…" Betty tried to pull away.

"Go…" Amanda waved her on. Betty ran all the way to the ambulance. The doors were opened wide. She saw Daniel laying there on the stretcher, being tended to by the paramedic.

"Daniel." She tried to catch her breath and calm her beating heart.

His head turned and their eyes met. Both of their eyes were filled with tears. "Betty." He sat up as the paramedic who had just finished wrapping his hand, moved out-of-the-way.

She quickly climbed into the back of the ambulance and moved into his arms.

"Betty, thank god. You are okay." His eyes scanned every inch of his face. He lifted his bandaged hands to hold her face. "I was so afraid that I lost you. You told me you were downstairs when you called me…and after the explosion, I…." He pulled her into his arms again.

"I…forgot my necklace and I couldn't reach you so I got out of the car and went upstairs to get it."

"I'm so glad." Daniel kissed her lips softly.

"Who would do this?" Betty asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"I would imagine it was someone who doesn't want us to get married." The ambulance doors closed.

"Edward." Betty said sadly. "I thought he left town and went back to London."

"Who knows? I just don't know what I would have done if you were in that car, Betty. I do know that I would have died trying to save you….and there is nothing that is going to keep me from marrying you now."

"So…I guess we aren't eloping to Las Vegas tonight."

Daniel nodded regrettably. "No…but I think we should go back to that hotel and lock ourselves in. I'm not leaving your side until we make this official."

He added. "We probably need to lay-low until the police figure out what's going on."

Betty brushed her hand over his burnt right hand. "Your hand…"

"I'll be fine. Just as long as I have you."

"Me too." She met his lips again.

* * *

Through the upstairs window, Daniel watched the guests as they began to arrive for the small wedding ceremony that was taking place in the garden at the Meade Mansion.

Most of the people who were arriving were unaware that this wedding was not for him and Amanda, but intended for him and Betty. It seems that curiosity, after last night's attempt to take his and Betty's life, had only increased the interest today's festivities.

The guests were piling in and the paparazzi were swarming.

"They still think that you and Amanda are the ones that are getting married, don't that have anyone that checks their facts over there?" Betty watched Fashion Buzz, as Suzuki went on and on about what everyone was wearing.

"They will know that truth soon enough." Daniel turned his gaze from the garden to Betty. "And we can start our life without any fear."

He glanced back out the window. The small string ensemble was playing. The sun was shining. The garden was blooming with an array of colorful flowers. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. It appeared that nothing could go wrong but Daniel knew better. Looks could be deceiving. After the longer night that he and Betty had, they couldn't take any chances.

"Has it started yet?" Betty switched off the television and moved towards him.

"It's getting ready too." Daniel left his spot at the window to meet her in the middle of the room. "I probably should get down there."

"I don't have a good feeling about this." Betty turned around to face him. "Look at what's already happened. I'm just so afraid that someone else is going to get hurt or….even worse."

"Nothing is going to happen. And anyway, he can't stop us from getting married because we already are. He can't change that."

Daniel grinned and added. "You are my wife."

"You love saying that. I think you've called me your wife about 100 times since we made it official," Betty giggled.

"I love it and I love you." Daniel kissed her, as he pulled her closer.

"I love you too." Her cheeks had a hint of pink. She lifted her eyes to his. "Do you really think that Edward is going to fall for it?"

"I know he wants you and he hates me. It's his last chance….well; at least he'll think it's his last chance. As soon as the wedding starts, you will slip out the side door and you'll be taken someplace safe."

"What about Amanda? She's pregnant, having her pretend to me could put her in harm's way." Betty smoothed out her white dress nervously.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to her." Daniel assured her. "Actually, she's not pregnant.

"What? What happened?" Betty asked but Daniel knew that there wasn't time to get into it. The wedding was starting.

Daniel heard a knock on the door. Becks stuck his head into the room. "It's show time."

"Give us a minute." Daniel asked Becks. He nodded and closed the door.

"We can talk about this later," Daniel turned back to Betty, leaned in and quickly kissed her. "Becks will go with you and make sure you are safe until we are together again. "

"I can just stay here. I don't want to leave without you, Daniel."

"Okay. I want you to lock yourself in here. I'll have Becks guard the door." Daniel said. "Don't open the door for anyone."

"I won't. Be careful." Betty kissed him and then pulled him into an extended hug.

The door opened again and Becks stuck his head in. "Come on. Do I have to pry you two apart? They are waiting on you."

Betty let go of Daniel and he kissed her one last time before he headed for the door. He turned one last time before heading out the door. Betty moved quickly behind him and locked the door.

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	18. Chapter 18

**The Journey Home**

_Author's Note: Thank you for the feedback and comments. _

**Chapter 18**

* * *

If Daniel actually believed that Betty was going to sit in this room while he could become the target of something horrible, he was out of his mind. Only two seconds after Daniel headed down the hallway, Betty unlocked and stepped into the hallway.

"Where do you think you are going, Betty?" Becks asked.

Then, she remembered that Daniel told her that Becks would be guarding the door to make sure that she stayed safe. As much as Betty loved her new husband, he always did have a history of being overprotective of her.

_Did he forget that she grew up in Queens, while he spent his entire life with a silver spoon in his mouth? _

"I have to use the little girl's room, Becks."

"Daniel wants you to stay inside the room until it's time for me to take your downstairs once we know that they know that's its safe."

"Becks, come on. It's just across the hall," said Betty. "Not in New Jersey."

"Isn't there a bathroom in there?" He pointed back inside the room.

"It's too small for my dress, Becks." She swished her wedding dress. "It would be like trying to shove a marshmallow up your nostril."

Becks touched his nose. "Fine. Go ahead." He started to follow her but then she stopped and turned towards him.

"Becks, I don't need a babysitter. Anyway, I don't think that Daniel would like you following me into the bathroom and neither would your wife….."

"Amanda doesn't care."

"I'm sure she would. I know Daniel would freak out…and I wouldn't like it either." Betty snapped.

"I was kidding. I was just going to guard the door."

"Sure, you were." Betty looked at him suspiciously.

"Wow...what is it with you women lately? It's bad enough that I have to deal with Amanda's moods at home. Now, I get to deal with you."

Betty narrowed her eyes and decided to test a theory that she had. "Well, she is pregnant."

"Yes. I know… I know. I don't know how I'm going to make it through the rest of this pregnancy. All she does is eat and tell me that I make her want to throw up."

"Well, maybe you do. I'm getting a nauseous myself standing this close to you." Betty crossed her arms.

"She won't let me near her. We only had sex once since Vegas…." Beck continued.

"Too Much Information, Becks. I'm not Dr. Phil. I just want to go to the bathroom." Betty knew something was off. Why would Daniel tell her that Amanda wasn't pregnant? It just didn't make any sense at all. Right now, Betty knew that she didn't have time to think about that though. She needed to get downstairs and find Amanda. "Now get out of my way."

"Whatever." He held his hands up in surrender. "Gee…I hope Daniel knows what he's gotten into. Just hurry up, okay?"

" Listen! I'm sorry. I promise that I'll go back in my room and lock the door." Betty crossed her fingers behind her back. "If you really want to do me a favor, you can go down stairs and make sure nothing happens to Daniel."

She added. "Haven't you ever heard that it's bad luck to get married without the best man?"

"Is that really how it goes?" Becks gave her a strange look. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." She said simply.

"But I'm not his best man….in fact; there aren't any groomsmen or bridesmaids."

"Well, then I think you better get down there. Daniel doesn't need any more bad luck." She gave him a little shove. "Isn't it bad enough that you stole his former fiancée? I think you owe him."

"Actually, I did you a favor. Daniel was always nuts about you. It was really only a matter of time."

"True. I guess. Anyway, can I please let me go to the bathroom and can you please go make sure Daniel doesn't get into any trouble? It's bad enough that we ended up getting married in a hospital emergency room. I don't want the few precious days we do have for a honeymoon in the hospital."

"I'm going. I'm going" Becks started down the hall. Betty pretended to head into the bathroom. As soon as she saw Becks headed down the stairs, she took off for the back stairway.

* * *

The "wedding"….or actually, the trap was set. The fake minister was in place. The place was crawling with covert security, which were hidden through the garden and surrounding area, including around the car that would take him and Betty on their honeymoon.

After all, Daniel wanted no more car bombs or attempts on their lives. There had been no detail overlooked to make sure that he and Betty had a clean slate to begin their lives. The key was making sure that Edward was arrested.

As Daniel prepared himself to head up to the front of the aisle, he took a deep breath and prayed that he could get through this. Right now, he just wanted him and Betty to be a hundred miles away from her, enjoying their honeymoon and pondering their first steps into the next phase of their life.

At this moment, he needed to focus though. And as much as he hated to drag Amanda into this, he appreciated her help, especially in light of the fact that Amanda had miscarried a week earlier.

With Amanda not being pregnant, she offered to step into Betty's shoes, so that Betty would be safe and out of danger. After all, she felt that she owed both him and Betty to help make sure that they got their happily ever after too.

"Hey, Buddy!" Becks came up behind Daniel.

"Becks…" Daniel turned. "What are you doing here? You are supposed to be making sure that Edward doesn't get to Betty."

"Betty is fine. She's tucked away in the little box you put her in, so that she didn't get broken before the honeymoon."

"Not funny." Daniel said sternly.

"You can't get married without the best man." Beck chuckled.

"What? Becks, I'm not getting married right now. I'm already married, remember?" Daniel looked at him like lost his mind.

"She promised that she would lock herself in and if someone did take her, I'm sure they bring her back. Man….I don't know you knew this but Betty is really bossy."

"Are you out of your mind?" Daniel turned to head back inside.

Marc came in. "Daniel, come on. You are ruining everything."

"But…" Daniel looked back before Marc pulled him away. "Marc, I need to go see Betty. I need to go see Betty now."

"Well, aren't you impatient? You must have hit your head last night. Just hold your horses, Luvvarboy. You and your little Chimchunga will be married soon enough." Marc had no idea that this wasn't a real wedding.

"She's okay, Daniel. Relax." Becks whispered in Daniel's ear. "You are going to throw the plan off."

A scream rang through the halls of Meade Mansion and made Daniel's heart stopped. He pulled away from Becks and Marc. As Daniel frantically searched the house, he finally found the source of the screaming and pounding sound.

"Let me out of here."

Daniel drew his ear closer to the door. "Amanda…"

"Get me out of here….He's got Betty."

"Who has Betty?" Daniel asked. He knew the answer to that question.

"Edward."

"Betty locked me in here. She wanted me out-of-the-way…."

"Why would Betty want you out-of-the-way?"

"Because I lied about not being pregnant anymore."

"Amanda…." Daniel groaned. He wanted to yell at Amanda for putting herself in danger and putting the baby in danger. Right now, Betty was in danger. "We will deal with that later. How do you know that it was Edward that took Betty? Did you see him?"

"No…but I heard his name….Now, get someone to get me out of here. Betty has the key." She beat on the door again. "I'm starving and I have to pee."

Becks rushed up to Daniel. "I think we have a problem."

'Yes. Betty locked Amanda in here. I need you to go get something to get her out. She just told me that Edward…."

"Has Betty." Becks cut in. "I know… I know. Don't worry. It's under control. The police have already been called and they managed to keep them from leaving the house," said Becks. "And the security is getting all the guests out."

"This is a disaster. I know that I have just taken Betty and disappeared for a while," said Daniel. "And now…."

Well, Daniel didn't even want to think about what Edward was capable of. He clearly wanted Betty for himself and would stop at nothing until he succeeded.

"Guys…get me out of here." Amanda pounded on the door and drew Daniel back to reality.

"Where are they?" Daniel asked.

"He has Betty locked in the study." Becks said gravely. "And they believe that he has a gun."

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	19. Chapter 19

**The Journey Home**

_Author's Note: This will be a short final chapter. No worries…There will be a short epilogue though….because you know me, I'm the queen of cliff hangers and there is no way that I could just leave it here. I will post the epilogue shortly._

_Thanks for the feedback and comments. I really appreciate you guys. It is because of you all that I keep writing. (for the practice and for the fun too.) _

* * *

**Chapter 19**

Betty watched Edward from across the room, as he peeked through the curtain to see what was going on outside. The gun aimed directly at her.

Suddenly, she wished that she could blink her eyes and be safely locked upstairs in the room where Daniel had asked her to stay, until they were able to make their get-away. On the other hand, there was no way that she was going to allow Amanda to put herself…and the baby…possibly Daniel's baby, in harm's way.

She would rather take a bullet from the gun Edward had in his hand, than to let that happen. Of course, she really hoped that it didn't have to come to that. After all, this was one instance where she hoped that her ability to talk her way out of a situation would come in handy.

"There are police everywhere." Edward glanced over at her. The gun still pointed in her direction.

"What did you expect?" Betty shook her head. "Daniel isn't exactly going let you walk out the front door with me. I am his wife."

She held up her hand to display her wedding band. She tried to keep her hand from shaking, wondering if it was a good idea to point out her marital status to the mad man with the gun. "I love Daniel. He loves me."

"That's what he says to all the women to get them. Don't you understand that?" Edward moved away from the window.

"He does and you can't change that he is my husband."

"We'll see about that." Edward snapped and peeked back out the windows. "Sit back down."

Betty wasn't going to sit down though. She continued to move closer. "Edward…please. This isn't going to change anything. Just give up. They are going to arrest you."

"Sit back down." He ordered, as he wove the gun at her again. "Now."

"Edward, you never loved me. You cheated on me. You never had any intend of moving back to New York with me. So…please just let me go." She pleaded, as she continued to move forward. "You are just going to make things worse."

Suddenly, the sound of shattering glass came from the adjoining room. Edward looked towards the disturbance and then back at Betty

"Sit…" He moved towards the entryway. Betty compiled with his request, as she wondered if she could take a chance and make a dash for the other door. She looked toward the door and tried to figure if she had enough time.

As soon as she checked to see if it was clear, Edward pulled Daniel into the room, by the arm.

"Hey!" Daniel said harshly. Edward shoved Daniel over to the side, as Edwards moved quickly towards her. "Careful."

"Daniel!" Betty stood back up and tried to move toward him. Her advance by Edward, in her attempt to reach him.

"Looks like your new husband was trying to rescue his damsel in distress," Edward reached her for her arm forcefully.

"Let her go." Daniel looked direct at Betty. She could see that he was terrified at what Edward might do. Since her return to New York, he had tried to assault her, he had planted a car bomb and he had kidnapped her. Betty was really started to wonder about his mysterious family that Edward never wanted to talk about and what type of connections they really had. "You don't want to her."

"You really do love her, don't you?" Edward asked.

"Yes. I do." Daniel said sincerely.

Edward chuckled, as he pushed the gun into her side. "That's hard to believe. Usually, you just love 'em and leave 'em."

"I love Betty. She's my wife."

"And it sure is convenient that you suddenly love her. You sure didn't want her when she was in New York." Edward chuckled.

"Stop!" Betty whimpered, as tears ran down her cheeks.

"It was because she was with me. You wanted what you couldn't have her. So…you do what you always do and blink those baby blue and stole her away from me," said Edward. "I love her. I saw through you the second you came to London but I knew your game."

"You cheated on her. You assaulted her." Daniel moved slowly toward them. "I wouldn't exact call that love."

"Just shut up, Danny Boy." Edward shook his head. "You already stole one woman away from me. I'm not going to let you do it again."

"What?" Daniel narrowed his eyes.

"Edward, let's just sit down and talk about this. Daniel and I are married. You can't change that." Betty pleaded.

"Actually, I think I can. I'm about to make you a widow." A second later, a shot rang out through the room, hitting Daniel in the chest. Betty watched in horror, as Daniel fell to the ground.

Betty pulled away from Edward with all the strength that he had. She didn't even care what the circumstances might be. She had to get to Daniel's side.

She fell to her knees and leaned down over him. "Don't move. We are going to get you some help."

"I love you." Daniel said softly.

"I love you too." Betty said tearfully. "You are going to be okay. I'm so sorry, Daniel."

"I just want you to be okay." He said breathlessly. She scanned his body for wounds, until she could feel Edward approaching.

She looked up at Edward. "How could you do this?" She screamed before she focused her attention back on Daniel.

"Betty…" Daniel's eyes met hers, as he whispered. "Come closer."

"Get away from him." Edward pointed the gun in her direction.

"Betty, come closer." Daniel whispered again. "Please."

She turned her eyes back to Daniel. She did what he asked and moved closer. She saw Daniel's eyes move past her shoulders.

Suddenly, his arms were around her and he pulled her down to him and rolled over her, just as another shot rang out and hit him again.

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	20. Epilogue

**The Journey Home**

_Author's Note: We have reached the end of the story….but you know there will always be another one. Thank you for the feedback, comments and support. I appreciate you all very much_.

**Epilogue**

The next nine months flew by in one complete blur for Betty. Since the moment, she stepped off the plane from London; her life had consisted of one challenge after another.

At first, it was the struggle to figure out what was next for her and what the future held. Then, she found her future in her friend that she loved more than any other. Then, there were the complications that began the endless roller coaster, which seemed to consume her life.

Since the moment that Edward shot Daniel, it seemed a struggle to breathe at times. It was almost like she could still feel Daniel's body lying on top of her. His body shielded her from those bullets selflessly. He was willing to sacrifice himself for her.

"Thank for bringing him by." Betty held the two months old, Daniel, as he lied peacefully in her arms. "It helps to cuddle with him."

"No problem. You actually are really good with him. Plus, it just gave me an excuse to tell Marc that he can't use him to pick up guys." Amanda laughed. "I mean, it was funny when we used William..."

Amanda stopped. "You miss Daniel, don't you?" Betty hated that tone. It was the tone that he had grown to know…and hate. It was like everyone was treating her like she was made of glass. and would shatter at any moment.

They would tell her that she had a right to be emotional.

"Yes." Betty said tearfully, as she motioned for her to take the baby. "Can you take him?"

"Oh…." Amanda took the sleeping baby from Betty. "I'm sorry."

Betty reaches for the tissues. "It's not your fault. It doesn't take much to make me cry anymore."

"It's going to be okay."

"I wish people would stop saying that. I miss Daniel so much. I can barely sleep at night. I just want him here….with me. He should be here."

"I know. I really do know how you feel Becks is gone all the time." Amanda said sympathetically. "He's gone all day…and I'm just stuck home with the baby. I'm going out of my mind."

"Amanda, it's not the same." Betty shook her head. "Becks is only gone for a few hours. Daniel's gone…" Betty paused as she wished that now that she would hear the front door open and Daniel would come in. He wouldn't though.

"I know…I just was trying to make you feel better," said Amanda. "Have you tried to do something to take your mind off of it? How about the magazine? You could work on that."

"I can't…Claire won't let me. She said that I need to worry about myself for a little while," said Betty. "She said the magazine will be waiting for me once I finish my leave."

"Well, you need this time off."

"I need something to do. I've already organized the entire house….and now I have nothing to do and all I can do is think of Daniel."

"I could talk to her." Amanda suggested.

"No…I might as well face it. It'll be a while before they let me come back." Betty leaned back in the chair. "I just wish that Daniel would…"

Just then, she heard the front door open. Betty turned to see Daniel in the foyer with his suitcase.

"Daniel!" Betty tried to get up.

"Stay…" Daniel dropped his suitcase and moved toward her. "Don't get up."

"You are home." Betty's eyes followed his. "I was just saying that I missed you. I just didn't think you were going to be home until next week."

"I couldn't wait…" He continued to move towards her.

She hated when Daniel traveled for work. He would be gone for up to a week at a time. It made her very lonely at times. On a few occasions, she did manage to slip away with him, between the magazine work and everyday life. It was never as great as when he was home and they were together.

"Hey, Amanda." Daniel said, as he looked down at Amanda and Becks' sleeping baby.

"Hi." Amanda smiled. "I think we'll just leave you two alone."

"You don't have to go." Betty said.

"Uh…yes. I do." Amanda gave a knowing smile. Betty was thankful though for Amanda. Even after the DNA showed that her baby belonged to Becks, she had made her and Daniel the baby's god parents and even named the baby after Daniel because he was one of Becks oldest friends and he had been a hero and had saved life of Betty and one other key person. _Thank God for that bullet proof vest. _"I'll just show myself out."

"Thanks, Amanda." Then, Daniel leaned down and kissed Betty. "I missed you." He knelt before her, bringing his hands to her stomach. "And I missed our baby boy."

"He missed you too. I missed you so much." Betty said happily. "But I didn't think you were coming home this soon."

"I'm all yours now. I gave my resignation two weeks ago.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew what you would say. You would tell me that I'm out of my mind…even if I know I know how much you hate it when I'm away."

"What are you going to do now?" Betty asked.

"I don't really know. I just know that I'm right where I need to be. I'm home."

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